SC could hardly have asked to be in a stronger position ahead of their quarter-final second leg next Thursday. Over the course of the match, the hosts conceded very few chances against the sixth-placed side in Spain’s La Liga and were able to strike three times themselves. Julian Schuster was full of praise for his team’s performance after the match. “We started the game well and scored an early goal. The lads defended brilliantly. In attack, they combined well, played their way out of the press and looked consistently dangerous.”

The atmosphere in the stands ahead of kick-off showed just how special a first European quarter-final is for everyone involved with the club. Long before the match began, loud chants from the fans echoed through the stadium and, as the teams walked out, an impressive display in the south stand perfectly set the stage for a historic and ultimately successful evening.

Grifo nets early on

Five days on from the very narrow yet devastating defeat to German record champions FC Bayern München, the Freiburg coaching staff made three changes to the starting eleven from that tie. Vincenzo Grifo, Igor Matanovic and Jordy Makengo came in for Derry Scherhant, Lucas Höler and Christian Günter.

When asked at the pre-match press conference how SCF had dealt with the 3-2 defeat to Bayern, Julian Schuster’s response was that “the team’s performance makes it easier to take”. On the pitch, SC carried on in that same vein and put their opponents from the Spanish port city under pressure in the first few minutes.

Unsurprisingly, then, they did not have to wait long for the game’s first opportunities. Matanovic headed over the bar (2’) before Maximilian Eggestein’s shot from the edge of the box was saved by Celta goalkeeper Ionut Radu (4’). Six minutes later, Freiburg got their reward for a dominant start to the match. Johan Manzambi found Grifo in space on the left, and the attacker curled a perfectly placed effort into the top corner from the edge of the area, leaving Radu with no chance (10’).

The Spanish side had made two changes from their win at Valencia last time out, as Williot Swedberg and Borja Iglesias replaced Hugo Álvarez and Pablo Durán. Celta initially struggled with the tempo of the match but slowly found their feet after falling behind. As the alert and well-organised SCF defence regularly snuffed out the visitors’ attacks, Celta Vigo failed to register a meaningful shot on Noah Atubolu’s goal during the first half hour.

Beste makes it two and Manzambi hits the woodwork

Instead, Schuster’s side doubled their lead just after the halfway point of the first period. Treu stuck out a leg to play in Matanovic, who advanced towards the byline and showed great awareness to find the arriving Niklas Beste, who turned in his team’s second from inside the six-yard box (32’).

Not long after, the home fans were almost ready to celebrate a third goal. Manzambi’s powerful strike from a tight angle came back off the post (35’). Ten minutes later, the half-time whistle went and Freiburg made their way off the pitch with a two-goal lead amid thunderous applause from their supporters.

Celta head coach Claudio Giraldez reacted to his side’s disappointing performance by making a double substitution at the break. However, the second half started in similar fashion to the first. SC remained comfortable in possession and well-organised, while the visitors continued to sit deep and were missing a cutting edge or an element of surprise in their attacking play.

Ginter nods home a late third

The 32,600 spectators at the Europa-Park Stadion did not see too many more good opportunities before the closing stages. Suzuki was challenged at the crucial moment after a clever through ball from Eggestein (64’) and Borja Iglesias fired just over the bar with Celta’s first notable effort of the game (70’).

With just under ten minutes to go, wild celebrations broke out around the stadium for a third time. From only the match’s second corner, Beste delivered the ball directly onto the head of Matthias Ginter, who leapt to meet it and cap a strong individual performance with a goal (78’). As both Fer Lopez (86’) and substitute Lucas Höler (88’) could not find the net from promising positions, the game ended in a 3-0 win for Freiburg.

“That was the first step. We’ve put ourselves in a good position, but we have to maintain this intensity in the second leg,” emphasised Julian Schuster ahead of the second half of SCF’s Europa League quarter-final on Thursday, 16th April. Kick-off at the Estadio Balaídos is at 18:45 CEST.

Photo: Achim Keller