league leader
SC Freiburg kept a cool head in the witches’ cauldron and took another step towards the knockout phase of the Europa League. The Bundesliga club won 3-0 (2-0) at Olympiacos Piraeus after a ripped-off performance on Thursday and after two matchdays in Group G they have the maximum haul of six points. Nicolas Höfler (5th) and double goal scorer Michael Gregoritsch (25th, 53rd) scored for the clearly superior Badeners, who had won 2-1 against Azerbaijan’s champions Qarabağ at the start of the group phase. Greece’s record champion Olympiakos is still at zero points.
After half an hour, the game in Piraeus was briefly interrupted by referee Matej Jug from Slovenia because firecrackers had been thrown onto the pitch from the stands. Just before kick-off, Olympiacos fans set off pyrotechnics in the stands. Freiburg missed the expected charged atmosphere in the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium but early on. Höfler headed a free kick from Vincenzo Grifo from the right half field into the bottom left corner. The Badeners quickly took the lead against Agdam – and once again they completely dominated the first half. A shot from Gregoritsch touched the right outside post (13′), another from Daniel-Kofi Kyereh was no problem for Piraeus keeper Tomas Vaclik. In the 25th minute, Gregoritsch made it 2-0 with a powerful shot from close range for the guests, who surprisingly decided not to rotate and had the same starting line-up as they had in the Bundesliga against Borussia Mönchengladbach (0-0).
With Freiburg & Union Berlin: All Europa League participants by squad values
The 47-time Greek champions Olympiakos, who failed to qualify for the Champions League and had a mixed start in the league, played extremely poorly. It was only in the 39th and 72nd minutes that Freiburg goalkeeper Mark Flekken got in trouble. The Breisgau team got off to a dream start in the second round as well. After submission by Matthias Ginter, Gregoritsch calmly settled the ball, scored to make it 3-0 and thus robbed the hosts of their last hope. Freiburg remained in control at all times – and unbeaten in the sixth competitive game in a row. In the final phase, the sports club made several changes and thus saved energy for the league game at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim next Sunday.
#OLYSCF 0:3 (90′)
What an evening! pic.twitter.com/Y4DVvjeJIG— SC Freiburg (@scfreiburg) September 15, 2022
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