Europa League
Freiburg beats Salzburg and remains on course for the round of 16
Updated 12/12/2025 – 6:07 amReading time: 2 min.
Things continue to go well for SC Freiburg in the Europa League. There was also a narrow win against Red Bull Salzburg.
SC Freiburg is getting closer and closer to reaching the round of 16 in the Europa League. On Thursday evening, the Breisgauers also narrowly won against Red Bull Salzburg 1-0 (0-0). In a fairly uneventful game, Philipp Lienhart scored the decisive goal in the 50th minute. Freiburg also benefited from a red card against Salzburg’s Petar Rakov. He gave Maximilian Eggestein a bloody nose with an elbow. After VAR intervention, referee Elchin Masiyev showed the red card in the 38th minute.
With the next three points, Freiburg is in fifth place in the Europa League table with 14 points. This means that they can no longer be denied participation in the intermediate round; direct qualification for the round of 16 is even possible. The top eight in the table move straight into the round of the best 16.
In what was at times a rather disjointed first half, Freiburg initially became dangerous primarily through long-range shots. Yuito Suzuki (18th) and the once again eye-catching Johan Manzambi (27th) each finished on the edge of the penalty area, but aimed too high. After a good half hour, Maximilian Eggestein headed just past the goal from a corner and missed SC’s best chance to date.
The Salzburg team, who had to make do without their German head coach Thomas Letsch due to illness and were looked after by his assistant coach Kai Hesse, had slacked off somewhat after a lively initial phase. The sending off of Ratkov made their task even more difficult. The striker had extended his elbow against Eggestein in midfield and was first shown yellow, but then red after a video check.
Shortly before the break, RB could have taken the lead when they were outnumbered. Freiburg were very lucky that the fast Edmund Baidoo ultimately put the ball next to the goal during a promising counterattack (42nd).
The second half started strangely. After Manzambi fell in the penalty area, Freiburg would have liked to get a penalty (48th). Instead there was a corner – and it made it 1-0. A low shot from Niklas Beste flew into the fray, Lienhart kept his foot in and directed the ball into the net. By now the hosts were fully on course for the knockout rounds.
Matthias Ginter (58th) and Beste (84th) missed further good opportunities for Freiburg. Although they had the game largely under control, they didn’t push hard enough for the second goal. Ultimately, SC, who face Borussia Dortmund in the league on Sunday, managed to get the lead over time.
