Accompanied by strict security measures and a fan boycott, SC Freiburg advanced early to the round of 16 of the Europa League. The Bundesliga club defeated Israel’s record champions Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0 (0-0) with a late goal from Igor Matanovic (82nd minute).
The Freiburg team remained unbeaten in the seventh game of the competition in front of 27,600 spectators and celebrated their fourth victory in their fourth home game. At the end of the league phase, next week we go to OSC Lille in France. Maccabi, who only got one point, can no longer reach the playoff round in February.
Over 2,000 officers on duty
In order to prevent possible anti-Semitic riots, the strictest security precautions were taken – as was the case during Maccabi’s guest appearance at VfB Stuttgart in December. The police were on duty around the game with more than 2,000 officers, and entry controls led to long queues. Several Freiburg ultra groups stayed away because they felt their fan culture freedom was restricted. Many other seats remained empty, which certainly had an impact on the atmosphere in the stadium.
Things were also pretty quiet on the pitch at first – before the SC had their first big chance out of nowhere. The guests were unable to clear a long shot from defender Max Rosenfelder, the ball landed at Matanovic, but the attacker’s shot was too harmless (17th).
In other respects, the in-form Matanovic was the most noticeable player for the Freiburg team, who were now dominating more and more. However, they were rarely really dangerous. A pattern that is already familiar to the Breisgauers from this season. In injury time of the first half, the SC was even lucky that goalkeeper Noah Atubolu prevented Saied Abu Farchi from making it 0-1 with a header.
Triple chance after the break
Things got really turbulent in Maccabi’s penalty area ten minutes after the break. Freiburg’s Matthias Ginter failed after a corner from goalkeeper Roi Mishpati, Matanovic only hit the crossbar in the follow-up, and Yuito Suzuki missed the third attempt. It’s hard to believe that the Baden team didn’t put the ball in the goal. At least they now noticeably increased the number of hits.
Winger Derry Scherhant first shot the ball past (59th), then failed after a combination with Matanovic from a few meters (68th) and finally shot the ball directly into the arms of goalkeeper Mishpati (76th).
In the final phase, Freiburg were rewarded for their effort: Captain Christian Günter crossed from the left and Matanovic made the decision with a wonderful header.
Worth a look
