Outnumbered and despite a defeat, SC Freiburg moved straight into the round of 16 of the Europa League. At the end of the league phase, coach Julian Schuster’s team lost 0-1 (0-0) at OSC Lille. The result was still enough for the Bundesliga club to maintain a place among the top eight teams.
In the final phase, Maximilian Eggestein was shown the red card after a foul (74′), and in the second minute of stoppage time, Olivier Giroud converted a penalty for the northern French to win. Junior Adamu had missed Freiburg’s best opportunity after almost an hour.
VfB Stuttgart, on the other hand, has to take the detour via the playoffs in the fight for a place in the round of 16 in the Europa League. The Swabians won 3:2 (2:1) against Young Boys Bern on Thursday evening. But that wasn’t enough for a place in the top eight because the necessary support wasn’t available.
After a furious start, the DFB Cup winners took an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals from strike duo Deniz Undav (6th) and Ermedin Demirovic (7th). Armin Gigovic (42nd) and Sandro Lauper (57th) managed to equalize for the Swiss. But Andres Chema gave VfB victory (90th).
The second round pairings will be drawn on Friday (1 p.m.) at UEFA headquarters in Nyon. The return leg will be played on February 19th and 26th. VfB can face Celtic Glasgow or Ludogorez Razgrad.
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