After the weekend’s exhilarating draw with Bayer Leverkusen, it appeared SC had little left to give on their travels to Belgium. Following a positive start, signalled by an offside goal, Freiburg subsequently failed to really get into the game and, against an opponent who remained defensively stable throughout the second half, they could not find the gaps to create goalscoring chances. Head coach Julian Schuster shared his thoughts after full-time: “We would have liked to have put ourselves in a different position. That being said, anything is possible in the second leg, which is the positive takeaway from today. We should have been a goal up with 15 minutes played – that would have helped us. Today’s performance was not good enough.”

SC travelled to Belgium with a near-full squad at their disposal. Both Philipp Lienhart and Lukas Kübler returned to form part of the cohort after each recently overcame injuries. The starting line-up had a similar look to that which began the league draw with Leverkusen; however, Maximilian Eggestein would have to be replaced due to suspension following his red card in Lille. This marked the first time he would be unavailable since October 2024.

Patrick Osterhage hence featured from the off in his place, taking part in a courageous early display from his team. Freiburg believed they had grabbed a go-ahead goal just a short while into proceedings as well. Although, after Genk keeper Tobias Lawal produced a strong save to parry Matthias Ginter’s header, only for the rebound to be turned home from close range by Johan Manzambi, the VAR intervened on second viewing and adjudged the Switzerland international to have been narrowly offside.

Genk show courage to take the lead

The hosts repeatedly invited pressure in front of their own goal. First of all, Igor Matanovic closed down Matte Smets in the Genk box, blocking an attempted clearance and seeing the ball ricocheting only narrowly wide of the net. Manzambi then turned the ball over and opted to shoot, striking only an opposing player and overlooking Yuito Suzuki, who appeared in a better position.

While the home side looked vulnerable at the back, they played impressively going forward, creating chances and ultimately taking the lead after 24 minutes. After a neat one-two, Zakaria El Ouahdi found himself with the opportunity to volley from a tight angle and netted into the far corner for 1-0. An effort from Konstantinos Karetsas three minutes later zipped just wide of the upright. SC lost the ball simply too often throughout the opening period, and the Belgians seemed to go into challenges with that bit more vigour. As a result, they continued to threaten Noah Atubolu’s goal. Only in the 38th minute did Freiburg next register an attempt, although it was certainly a good try from Suzuki, who was unlucky to see his looping, deflected shot from the edge of the area clip the post.

Little to shout about after the break

Niklas Beste was another kind of unfortunate on 63 minutes when he had to be substituted with a black eye after a coming together saw him receive a blow to the face. To make matters worse, that occurred during possibly SC’s best phase of the game, controlling possession albeit without racking up chances. Genk operated more defensively than before half-time, not allowing any further attempts on target until stoppage time. Only then did Matanovic next test home stopper Lawal, who produced a necessary save.

The Belgian side also struggled to create during the second period, with Atubolu reduced to the status of spectator. SC must now look to turn around a narrow deficit in the second leg, to be played on 19th March, if they are to reach the quarter-final stage of the Europa League.

Photo: Marco Steinbrenner