Europa League: SC Freiburg wins superior in Piraeus
Europe League
SC Freiburg wins superior in Piraeus
Freiburg’s Michael Gregoritsch (M) celebrates after scoring 2-0 against Olympiakos Piraeus. photo
© Angelos Tzortzinis/dpa
SC Freiburg deservedly wins at Greece’s record champions Olympiakos Piraeus. Höfler’s early goal dampened the atmosphere in the stadium, then Gregoritsch put together a brace for the sovereign SC.
Of the Sc freiburg kept a cool head in the cauldron and took another step towards the knockout phase of the Europa League. The Bundesliga soccer team won 3-0 (2-0) at Olympiakos Piraeus after a rip-off performance and after two matchdays in Group G they have the maximum score of six points.
Nicolas Höfler (5th minute) and double goal scorer Michael Gregorych (25′, 53′) scored for the clearly superior Baden side, who had won 2-1 against Azerbaijan’s champions Karabakh Agdam at the start of the group stage. Greece’s record champion Olympiakos is still at zero points.
After half an hour the game was in Piraeus was briefly interrupted by referee Matej Jug from Slovenia because firecrackers had been thrown onto the pitch from the ranks. Just before kick-off, Olympiacos fans set off pyrotechnics in the stands. Freiburg missed the expected charged atmosphere in the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium but early on.
Vincenzo Grifo headed a free kick from the right half field Hofler undisturbed in the lower left corner. Baden quickly took the lead against Agdam – and once again they completely dominated the first half. A shot from Gregoritsch touched the right outside post (13′), another from Daniel-Kofi Kyereh was no problem for Piraeus keeper Tomas Vaclik.
In the 25th minute, Gregoritsch made it 2-0 with a powerful shot from close range for the guests, who surprisingly decided not to rotate and had the same starting line-up as they had in the Bundesliga against Borussia Mönchengladbach (0-0).
The 47-time Greek champions Olympiakos, who failed to qualify for the Champions League and had a mixed start in the league, played extremely poorly. It was only in the 39th and 72nd minutes that things got dangerous in front of the goal Freiburg Goalkeeper Mark Flekken.
The Breisgau team got off to a dream start in the second round as well. After submission by Matthias Ginter, Gregoritsch calmly settled the ball, scored to make it 3-0 and thus robbed the hosts of their last hope. Freiburg remained in control at all times – and unbeaten in the sixth competitive game in a row. In the final phase, the sports club made several changes and thus saved energy for the league game at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim next Sunday.
