SC Freiburg lost points for the first time this Europa League season and still reached the round of 16 early. The Baden Bundesliga soccer club played 1-1 (0-1) against the Greek record champions Olympiakos Piraeus.
Since pursuer Karabakh Agdam also lost 1:2 in the parallel game at FC Nantes, Freiburg have secured the group victory before the last matchday and thus save themselves the playoff round after the turn of the year. Youssef El-Arabi scored in front of 33,600 spectators in the 17th minute for Piraeus, Lukas Kübler equalized in the 3rd minute of injury time for Freiburg. Piraeus’ Osseynou Ba saw yellow-red in a hectic final phase.
Freiburg with a lot of ball possession and few chances
In comparison to the 2-0 win against Werder Bremen in the league last weekend, SC coach Christian Streich switched from a back three and five to a back four and ordered the offensive Ritsu Doan into the starting XI instead of full-back Kiliann Sildillia. The guests, who have been coached by the Spaniard Míchel since the end of September, were much more disciplined defensively than under his compatriot and predecessor Carlos Corberán, with whom they lost the first leg 3-0.
Freiburg had more possession of the ball in the first half, but almost no compelling chances. At first they tried it once or twice with long shots over the defence. In the 35th minute, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh just missed the ball.
The lead of the Greek record champions came from one of several good counterattacks. SC keeper Mark Flekken was able to parry Pep Biel’s first shot, but he got El Arabi’s shot through his legs. Giorgos Masouras almost increased before the break. After he had already passed Flekken, he pushed the ball into the side netting instead of into the empty goal (23′).
Deserved late compensation
In the second half, Freiburg played more purposefully up front and therefore deserved the equaliser. Kübler forced Olympiakos goalkeeper Alexandros Paschalakis to make a good save (59′), shortly afterwards Doan narrowly missed a cross (61′). Streich again brought fresh strength to the offensive: first Woo-yeong Jeong, then Nils Petersen. But it didn’t pay off, Jeong (88′) missed the huge chance to make it 1-1 with a header shortly before the end. Everything came down to a 0:1 – until Kübler scored after a standard to equalize.
