Published: December 11, 2025 10:58 pm
Salzburg also lost its fifth of six Europa League games. The 0-1 defeat in Freiburg almost means a certain exit from the European stage. The decisive factor was an elbow check from Petar Ratkov, which put the Bulls outnumbered.
The sixth appearance of the season in the Europa League resulted in Salzburg’s fifth defeat. On Thursday, the Bulls, who were outnumbered for around an hour after Petar Ratkov was red, had to admit defeat to the favorites SC Freiburg 0-1 (0-0) and only have a theoretical chance of making the play-off of the Top 24. Currently four points are missing, duels with FC Basel (home) and Aston Villa (away) still await in January.
“One reason was that we were outnumbered for so long after the red card,” Salzburg coach Alexander Schlager summed up to Canal+.
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The decisive goal came shortly after the break from ÖFB team player Philipp Lienhart, who decisively deflected a deflected long-range shot (50th). It was the 29-year-old’s first ever goal in the European Cup. Freiburg, currently ninth in the table in Germany, kept their good chances of a direct place in the round of 16 alive with their fourth win after two draws.
Salzburg without sick coach Letsch
Five days after the 2-0 win against Blau-Weiß Linz, Salzburg appeared in front of around 31,000 spectators with three changes. Defensively, Jacob Rasmussen replaced the ill Jannik Schuster, and Aleksa Terzic also worked in place of Frans Krätzig. Clement Bischoff started in place of Moussa Yeo on offense. Thomas Letsch, who was ill, was represented on the sidelines by “Co” Kai Hesse. Freiburg had both red-white-red forces in the starting line-up with Lienhart and ex-Bulle Junior Adamu up front.
It was a lively, fast-paced game in which Salzburg started with a lot of aggression, repeatedly put the game under control and mostly had the home side’s offense well under control. A shot from Yuito Suzuki from the edge of the penalty area went relatively narrowly over the goal (18th), after half an hour a header from Maximilian Eggestein from a corner just missed the far corner (31st).
Ratkov didn’t just knock out Eggestein
A somewhat clumsy move made things unnecessarily difficult. The high-jumping Ratkov’s elbow hit Eggestein’s nose, and after VAR intervention, referee Elchin Masiyev decided on a red card. With a lot of commitment, Salzburg brought the score 0-0 into the break and even had the best chance of the game in this phase. Edmund Baidoo did everything right after a sensitive pass from Mads Bidstrup, left Matthias Ginter standing and was only slightly weak in the finish: the shot went just past the far corner and Yorbe Vertessen rushed in too late (42′).
After the break things happened quickly. After a corner, Jan-Niklas Beste hit it from the edge of the penalty area, the hard shot found its way into Alexander Schlager’s goal after a double deflection. Lienhart was the last to touch the ball.
Bulls allow too much at the back
In the six games of the Europa League, the Bulls allowed 111 opponent shots. This means they have the second-worst value behind the Go Ahead Eagles.
The remaining 40 minutes turned out to be a rather one-sided affair, in which Salzburg was mainly occupied with defensive tasks. Freiburg rocked the game in a rather unspectacular manner over time.
Tor:
Red card:
Lineups
Freiburg: Atubolu – Treu (70. Kübler), Ginter, Lienhart (78. Jung), Günter – Eggestein, Manzambi (85. Toterhage) – Beste, Suzuki, Grifo (78. Höler) – Adamu (70. Mattanovic)
Missing: Dinkci, Makengo (both muscular problems)
Salzburg: Schlager – Lainer (89th Onisiwo), Gadou, Rasmussen, Terzic – Bidstrup, Diabate (63rd Yeo) – Baidoo (76th Konate), Vertessen (76th Alajbegovic), Bischoff (46th Trummer) – Ratkov
Missing: Letsch, Kitano (both ill), Gourna-Douath, Kawamura, Mellberg (all knees), Kjaergaard (wade)
LIVE TICKER for Freiburg against Salzburg in the Europa League for reading
(Source: salzburg24)
