Europa League & Conference League
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SC Freiburg is continuing its successful streak in the Europa League and is heading straight towards the knockout phase. The Breisgauer team won 3-1 (3-1) at the French first division club OGC Nice and thus secured their third victory in the fourth game.
Johan Manzambi (29th minute), Vincenzo Grifo (39th/foul penalty) and Derry Scherhant (42nd) scored for coach Julian Schuster’s team. Kevin Carlos (25th) initially put the southern French team, who were still pointless, in the lead. Schuster did without the designated Freiburg record player Christian Günter for the 90 minutes. The 32-year-old can become the sole most used player in the Breisgau club’s history in the home game against St. Pauli (3:30 p.m.) on Sunday.
While Freiburg secured themselves in the top group of the league phase with ten points, Nice are deep in the table cellar with zero points. The Bundesliga club had to do without the loud support of their fans who had traveled with them. The fans remained quiet for a long time in protest against what they saw as the excessively strict actions of the law enforcement officers.
Mainz in the Conference League with a last-minute win against Florence
Thanks to a last-minute goal, 1. FSV Mainz 05 has come a big step closer to reaching the round of 16 of the Conference League. The Rheinhessen won at home against AC Florence 2:1 (0:1) and got their third win on the third matchday of the league phase.
Jae-Sung Lee scored a goal in stoppage time for FSV’s much-celebrated victory. Simon Sohm had previously given the guests from Italy the lead in the 16th minute after a catastrophic bad pass from Danny da Costa. After the break, Joker Benedict Hollerbach scored in front of 30,300 fans to make it 1-1 for the 05ers (68th), before Lee secured the victory. It was Hollerbach’s first goal in the Mainz jersey. The striker came from Union Berlin in the summer for the club’s record sum of 10 million euros.
Both Mainz and Florence, who had previously won two games in the Conference League, fluctuated between extremes before the game. Things are anything but good for both teams in the domestic leagues. The 05ers are second to last in the Bundesliga. The team from Florence, which had to do without German professional Robin Gosens in Mainz due to a torn muscle fiber, is actually at the bottom of the domestic Serie A. The club parted ways with coach Stefano Pioli on Tuesday, and instead interim coach Daniele Galloppa was on the sidelines against Mainz.