Mith another success in the Europa League, SC Freiburg gained more self-confidence ahead of the top game in the Bundesliga at FC Bayern Munich. When coach Christian Streich, who was recently absent due to illness, returned, Freiburg won 4-0 (1-0) at French Cup winners FC Nantes on Thursday and thus qualified early for the knockout phase.
“In the first half it was an even game, we worked our way into it,” said midfielder Nicolas Höfler: “We’re happy things are going so well and we’re riding the wave as long as we can.” Lukas Kübler scored the goals (26 .), Michael Gregoritsch (71′) and Woo-Yeong Jeong (87′), and Jean-Charles Castelletto deflected the ball into his own goal after a shot by Kevin Schade (82′).
With the fourth win in the fourth preliminary round game, Freiburg can no longer be pushed out of the first two places in group G and are still on course for group victory, which is rewarded with direct entry into the round of 16. As second, the SC would first have to go into the intermediate round. This is the first time in the club’s history that Freiburg have made it through the group stage, in which they failed when they made their debut on the European stage in the 2013/14 season. In the eleventh game without a defeat, the Bundesliga second team was initially lucky, as Nantes failed twice at the goal posts.
Pyrotechnics were ignited in both fan blocks during the game. After the goal to make it 1-0, firecrackers could also be heard from the guest block, SC goalkeeper Mark Flekken tried to calm the spectators with gestures. Around 2000 Freiburg fans had traveled to western France, but a planned fan march did not take place because of the drizzle.
Dedicated initial phase
After six previous games with exactly the same line-up, Streich had changed his starting XI again for the first time – and in four positions at once. Among other things, Nils Petersen replaced Gregoritsch in attack. Streich was allowed to let off steam again on the sidelines after missing two games due to corona. “I’m just happy that I was able to come along and be back on the pitch,” the coach said before kick-off on RTL plus.
Streich saw a committed early phase from his team, which created two good opportunities early on through Philipp Lienhart (3rd) and Vicenzo Grifo (7th). Unlike in the first leg (2-0), which SC had dominated almost completely, Nantes played well at home and had a lot of bad luck with two aluminum goals by Moussa Sissoko (12th) and Sebastian Corchia (20th).
Ironically, when the hosts were under pressure, Freiburg made it 1-0 thanks to a full-range shot from Kübler after Nantes goalkeeper Alban Lafont had unluckily let Christian Günter’s cross bounce off the ball. After that, the SC tried to calm the game even more – and still had the great chance to make it 2:0: After a fine pass from Grifo, Ritsu Doan ran alone towards the opposing goal. The Japanese opted for a quick shot that Lafont was able to parry (44′).
After the change of sides, the home side increased the pressure significantly. In the meantime, Freiburg concentrated almost exclusively on securing the goal. Streich didn’t like it at all, he loudly demanded: “Play! Play!” His team reacted and appeared braver again. Goals two, three and four were the reward.
