A wild game with fire
SC Freiburg only takes its third lead to the finish
September 21, 2023, 11:02 p.m
SC Freiburg is off to a successful start in the Europa League: But the team has to fight hard against Olympiacos Piraeus before the away win is secured. The match winner is loan player Maximilian Philipp with a remarkable joker goal.
With ice-cold effectiveness in the Greek cauldron, SC Freiburg got off to a perfect European Cup start. The Bundesliga soccer team won 3:2 (2:1) at the start of the group phase of the Europa League against old friends Olympiacos Piraeus. A late goal from Maximilian Philipp (86th) secured victory for the Breisgau team. “If it ends 2-2, it’s correct,” said SC coach Christian Streich on RTL: “But Maximilian Philipp scored a great goal.” Previously, Roland Sallai (9th) and Vincenzo Grifo had already given coach Christian Streich’s team the lead twice with a penalty kick (45th + 7th). But the Moroccan Ayoub El Kaabi equalized twice (40th/75th) for the Greek record champions.
Almost exactly a year ago, the SC won 3-0 at Olympiakos, and with the 1-1 draw in the second leg, Freiburg made it through. In the round of 16, the Streich team failed against the Italian record champions Juventus Turin. “We are playing against a completely different team,” Streich said on RTL shortly before the game against the Greek league leaders kicked off: “Last year Olympiakos had a lot of problems, this year they have no problems.”
In front of around 30,000 frenetic spectators in the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, the hosts should have taken the lead in the sixth minute. After a miss by SC captain Grifo, center forward El Kaabi failed to put the ball in the goal. Shortly afterwards, almost the same situation happened on the other side. Defender Nicolas Freire made a serious mistake – but the Hungarian Sallai was able to capitalize on it to the delight of the SC fans who had traveled with him.
In the 26th minute, the Breisgauers were lucky when a corner from Kostas Fortounis hit the crossbar. A little later, El Kaabi scored the Greeks’ deserved equalizer. In stoppage time, Giorgos Masouras missed a great chance to score another goal after a mistake by SC defender Kenneth Schmidt. Instead of being behind, Freiburg went into the locker room with a lead. Grifo converted a penalty after a clear foul on Ritsu Doan.
Hardly anything happened in the second half until the 70th minute. Freiburg largely had the action under control, then El Kaabi scored again. But the SC reported back again. In addition to Olympiakos, Conference League winners West Ham United and Serbian club TSC Backa Topola are waiting for Freiburg in the group phase, who have to play against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on Sunday.