Huang Sijun, Special Correspondent for Sports Weekly All-Media
On Thursday night, Freiburg did what Bayern failed to do. They had the luck that Bayern had lacked. They completed a 3-1 comeback against fourth-placed Braga in the Portuguese Super League at home and advanced to the Europa League final with a total score of 4-3. They will compete with Aston Villa for the championship in Istanbul. This breakthrough may seem sudden for a small team that did not reach the Europa League final the previous season, but it is actually the inevitable result of long-term accumulation. It should be noted that Freiburg had one more player at the beginning.
Kübler scored twice with a kick to the head
There was an away trip a week ago. In the second half, Freiburg clearly controlled the overall situation in that situation. However, in stoppage time, Braga took advantage of the only opportunity in the entire second half and completed a 2-1 victory. At that moment, Atubolu, who missed the ball because his line of sight was blocked by his teammate Linhardt, took a lot of the blame. However, it was the Ivorian youngster named Mario Dogeles who achieved the winning goal in the first round, who became the scapegoat in the second round. It was only 6 minutes into the game and he lacked experience. When chasing back with all his strength, Best turned offside and made a clever line change with a single knife, blocking his forward path. So at the front of the penalty area, he inevitably knocked down Best from behind. For destroying an obvious scoring opportunity, Italian referee Massa decisively showed him a red card and sent him off.
Right back Kübler opened the scoring in the 19th minute, equalizing the total score for Freiburg.
In such an extremely important game, the numerical advantage was obtained almost from the beginning, which laid an extremely solid foundation for Freiburg's home comeback. Braga had to let all its troops retreat, but Freiburg launched a siege in the half for a long time, and then the goal quickly appeared: in the 19th minute, the right back Kübler took the ball in the right rib area and passed it diagonally to the left, and Manzambi interfered with the opponent. The ball bounced near the left line of the penalty area. Grifo, who was wearing an armband because captain Güntel did not play, stopped the ball and immediately made a cross with his right foot. Vito Carvalho made a header at the back point but was not far away. Kübler quickly rushed into the right rib of the penalty area, grabbed the ball before the former Schalke 04 player Salazar and stopped it with his chest. He then quickly stabbed the ball with his right foot but did not touch the ball. However, fortunately, he used his left knee to block Gorby's defense to the left side of the goal. The ball landed on the ground and produced a strange spin before hitting the inside of the left post and rolling into the goal. Freiburg was lucky enough to equalize the total score!
In fact, in the first 45 minutes, Freiburg did not use many methods to attack and could not continuously pose a threat to Braga's goal. It wasn't until the 41st minute that Freiburg came to the moment when they could overtake the total score: After Troy passed the ball to Griffo on the left, he attracted the defense of two people and passed it back to Manzambi. After receiving the ball on the left rib, facing Salazar's lax defense, Troy slowly moved into the center. Cut, seeing that no one stepped forward to block it, he decisively kicked a curved ball with his right foot from a distance of 23 meters, and shot it hard into the right side of the goal. It almost perfectly replicated the goal that broke Neuer's gate when facing Bayern more than a month ago, but this time the goal was scored more easily.
After the total score was reversed, Braga had no choice but to give up the defense immediately and created a killing opportunity with a high press in the stoppage time of the first half. In both rounds, Spanish right-back Victor Gomez, who performed well in both rounds, rushed into the right side of the small penalty area and passed Artubolu, but in the end he shot from a small angle towards the near post. Lady luck favored the home team.
Manzambi, who has emerged this season, helped Freiburg overtake the total score.
After changing sides, Freiburg truly showed the advantage it should have in 11-on-10. Griffo hit the outside of the right post with a pocket shot and bounced out of the bottom line. Then Ginter's volley almost rolled along the outer edge of the right post and went out of the bottom line. Then in the first half, it was similar to the previous goal. The 23-year-old Czech goalkeeper made 5 successful saves that night. This successful save covered the operation in the 71st minute when Matanovic and Ginter successfully resolved two consecutive close-range shots. However, just 1 minute later, Hornicek had no choice. After taking a free kick from the right rib, Griffo chose to hang up diagonally toward the penalty area. Kübler, who was offside at the back of the penalty area, jumped high on the line of the small penalty area and hit the right side of the goal with a header in a very strong manner. The score was finally changed to 3-0!
The 33-year-old Kübler is quite miraculous when it comes to scoring goals. Before this game, he had only scored two goals in 22 appearances in the Europa League, and they were all in the group stage of the 2022/23 season. However, once he broke the goal drought, he scored two goals at once. In his Bundesliga career, he also scored only 12 goals in 197 games, but this covered two situations where he scored two goals at once last season. In the three times he scored two goals in his career, each time he scored the first goal with his feet, and then scored the second goal with his header. In each game, he helped the team win with three goals.
Ginter's close follow-up shot was successfully resolved by Hallnicek in an incredible way. However, the Czech goalkeeper was unable to save Braga in the end.
After the game, Kübler said that the first goal was all about determination, and the second goal was a header. He had scored several headers in the past, and he was very happy that Griffo passed the ball so beautifully. Then he seized the opportunity and headed the ball in. He was quite happy to help the team in this way. He has not yet fully understood how much they have achieved. He feels that it will take some time. This is really an incredible night.
Although the tenacious Braga fought back desperately and allowed Paul Victor to get a point back with a wonderful free kick in the 79th minute, Atubolu made two wonderful saves in the final stage to ensure that the team won. We should pay tribute to Braga. They still completed 14 shots in such a disadvantageous situation, only 5 fewer than Freiburg. Even the expected goals were slightly higher than the home team (1.84% vs. 1.83%). Spanish coach Bissons proudly declared: "Until the end of the game, you can see that even though we played one less player for such a long time, we still created many opportunities." The lads put in a performance worthy of praise, and the hard work and team spirit highlighted in this performance continued throughout the two rounds; at the same time, we do need to congratulate Freiburg because they have achieved the goal that we have been unable to achieve.
11 consecutive home wins in Europa League
When the final whistle sounded, it was blown by Felipe Massa after 6 minutes of stoppage time. Many Freiburg diehards wearing white clothes immediately jumped from the stands of the stadium and quickly jumped into the field, rushing towards the people they regarded as heroes and the people they regarded as their most familiar friends. However, only a few minutes passed before they quickly and orderly returned to the front of their home stand, no longer causing any trouble to their club. This particularly special scene formed a very clear contrast with the Frankfurt fans who once feared the whole of Europe and occupied the Nou Camp four years ago.
Perhaps such a detail, which can be called a detail, can explain the reason, so why the response caused by Freiburg's advancement towards the Europa League final is far less than that of Frankfurt's victory four years ago. On the one hand, both the performance of the team and the state of the fans are not as fanatical as Frankfurt, but have been replaced by calmness and orderliness; on the other hand, in the process of moving forward, Freiburg has not encountered a team as powerful and capable as Barcelona, and has not even encountered opponents such as Real Betis and West Ham United.
The Europa Park stands create a stunning atmosphere before kick-off.
After the restructuring of Europe's three major cup competitions, there are no longer those down-and-out giants from the Champions League group stage in the knockout rounds of the Europa League. Therefore, after Freiburg achieved 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss and finished 7th in the league stage, all they encountered in the 1/8 finals was the Belgian team Genk. After a 0-1 away defeat in the first leg, the team led by Julian Schuster won 5-1 at home in the second leg. In the quarter-finals, Freiburg faced Celta Vigo, currently ranked sixth in La Liga, and completed a clean double. They won 3-0 in the first round, and then won 3-0 again after 50 minutes in the second round. It was not until the end that the home team scored a consolation goal. At first, I thought that the semi-finals would finally have traffic. Unexpectedly, Braga used an unexpected trend to achieve a reversal against Betis in the away game.
In comparison, Stuttgart, another Bundesliga team participating in the Europa League, did not have such ideal signings. The team ranked only 11th in the league stage. As the German Cup champion last season, it needs to play the play-offs first. After finally easily eliminating Celtic, when faced with the choice between Porto and Braga, Porto was drawn. As a result, they suffered a double defeat in the 1/8 finals and were eliminated.
Of course, in terms of the paper strength currently displayed by Freiburg, especially considering its past unconvincing performance on the European stage, they were able to successfully eliminate Genk, Celta Vigo and Braga to qualify for the next stage. Especially in the two rounds of the contest with Celta Vigo, they played such a dominant performance (this scene can be called the most outstanding one during Schuster's tenure as coach). As a result, the gold content of its shortlist cannot be underestimated. In fact, it has greatly exceeded the ranking initially expected by the outside world.
Freiburg has shown strong performance and continuously defeated its opponents. The key point is its excellent home performance. Starting from the league stage, Freiburg has maintained a record of 7 undefeated home games in the Europa League. If the 2023/24 season is included in the calculation, Freiburg's consecutive home wins in the Europa League have reached 11 games. This result has tied the record set by the "King of the Europa League" Sevilla from 2014 to 2016.
The Freiburg fans who rushed to the stadium to celebrate did not take off the players' clothes. They just hugged each other and took photos with the players. They seemed orderly and the atmosphere was gentle.
The Europa Park Stadium will be put into use in October 2021. Such a strong home performance makes it naturally indestructible. Compared with the old home stadium, the Dresam Stadium, its stadium size does not meet the requirements of UEFA competitions, but the Europark Stadium has more than 10,000 more spectators, and the stadium can accommodate up to 34,700 people. Main center Matanovic said: "When we went out to warm up, I knew we would win this game. Today we had 34,000 people against 11 people."
When celebrating after the game, the Freiburg soldiers wore T-shirts that read "Together with you in the final." Such simple words can best demonstrate the character of this Black Forest club, and can also explain why the celebrations that Freiburg diehards rushed into the venue were so restrained and orderly. Their behavior gave people a real feeling of stable happiness, rather than a hysterical state.
Streich plants trees, Schuster enjoys the shade
Those who experienced such happiness include two club legends in the VIP stands. One is the former coach of the German national team Loew, who is the top scorer in team history, and the other is Julian Schuster's master Streich. In the summer of 2024, Streich, who had coached Freiburg's first team for 12 and a half years, handed the coach to Schuster, who had no previous independent coaching experience. In his player days, Schuster took over the captain's armband from Butcher, who was on the purge list by the club, during the winter break of the 2011/12 season when Streich took over the team. In 2018, after hanging up his boots, Schuster immediately joined the coaching staff and held the position known as the "Human Development Coordinator", also commonly known as the "Transition Coach." His responsibility is to assist echelon players to smoothly transition to the professional team, and this position is similar to Streich's initial job in the professional team.
Loew and Streich witnessed the greatest victory in team history.
Who can easily succeed a manager who has shaped an era at the club? However, Shuster quickly handed over a report card that could surprise people. During last season, Freiburg had been competing for a Champions League spot for a long time. It was not until the last round that they lost 1-3 at home to direct rival Eintracht Frankfurt. As a result, Dortmund was squeezed out of the top 4. Although he almost failed to succeed in the end, Schuster's coaching performance was widely recognized. In the end, he was even unexpectedly selected as the best coach in Germany, defeating many famous coaches including Spanish Triple Crown coach Flick, Bundesliga champion Kompany and German Cup champion Sebastian Hoeness, etc., thus winning the most votes.
Although the voting results were not that convincing at the time, Schuster's performance in leading the team to the historic Europa League final made the award worthy of the name in the end. When talking about the significance of reaching the Europa League final for the first time, the 41-year-old young coach said: "It is difficult to find the right words to express my feelings at this time. You can see the joy and gratitude on people's faces, and this is how I feel at the moment."
When he was elected as Germany's best coach last year, Schuster said in a humble manner that individual awards in football have always reflected team performance, especially in Freiburg. Here, perhaps more than elsewhere, success depends on teamwork. The favor shown by voters towards Schuster actually fully reflects the popularity of Freiburg in German football. To be more precise, it was Streich who had worked hard for more than ten years and transformed this small team in the Black Forest into the most popular visiting team in German football.
Last season, in the penultimate round, Freiburg, playing away from home, defeated newly promoted Holstein Kiel with a score of 2-1, causing their opponent to be relegated early. After the game, Freiburg's players did not celebrate their early European qualification with the fans who followed the team. Instead, they paid tribute to the home team and their fans. For this noble act, Freiburg won the German Professional League Fair Play Award last season.
The 41-year-old Schuster led Freiburg to a historic European final.
In terms of performance, Schuster continues to add support based on the solid foundation laid by his master Streich. Four years ago, Streich led the team to the historic German Cup final, but unfortunately lost to RB Leipzig on penalties and finished second. This season, Schuster led the team to the German Cup semi-finals, but suffered a tragic victory in the 119th minute against defending champion Stuttgart. In the past five seasons, Freiburg have been among the semi-finals of the German Cup three times; before that, they had only reached the semi-finals once in the 2012/13 season (which was Streich's first full season as coach).
Freiburg has made great progress since Streich's tenure, and its results in the European war can be better reflected. In the first two European tours during Streich's tenure, Freiburg's record was disastrous. In the 2013/14 season, they had 1 win, 3 draws and 2 losses and were eliminated from the group. In the 2017/18 season, they were eliminated by the Slovenian team Domzale in the third round of qualifying. However, in the 2022/23 season, Freiburg qualified first in the group, but was double beaten by Juventus in the 1/8 finals. Then the following season, Freiburg finished second in the group, narrowly eliminated Lens in the play-offs and qualified for promotion. However, they finally stopped in the 1/8 finals – they defeated West Ham 1-0 at home in the first round, but suffered a disastrous defeat in the away game with a score of 0-5.
Stability comes from courage and patience
Freiburg returned to the Europa League after a season. It is no longer the kind of team that can only play a supporting role in the European war due to its extreme lack of experience. There is a very key factor in this, and this factor is that the team's lineup maintains an unusually stable state. Take Braga's starting 11 in the second round as an example. Kübler scored two goals and has played for the team for 11 years. Ginter joined the youth training camp in the summer of 2005, left the team in the summer of 2014, and returned in the summer of 2022. , Hefler joined the youth training camp in the summer of 2005 and was loaned to Aue from 2011 to 2013. Atubolu joined the youth training camp in the summer of 2015. These three youth training players have also played for the club for more than 10 years.
Among Freiburg's starting players, except for Croatian center Matanovic, who came last summer, and right winger Best, who joined in the winter window last season, the rest have been playing for the club for more than three years, and some are players who have gone out and returned from the youth training camp (such as Ginter and left back Troy). , and there are "team souls" like Griffo who have joined three times. The first time he played was in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons, and the second time was on loan from Hoffenheim in the second half of the 2018/19 season. Before the summer window closed in 2019, he officially returned from Hoffenheim.
Captains Gentel and Griffo led the team to the end of the game.
As the captain sitting on the bench in this game, Günter has been playing since the summer of 2006, which is almost exactly 20 years. This season, he set a new record in team history with 467 appearances. Among the players ranked 3 to 5 on this list, Hefler played 380 games, Griffo played 357 games, and forward Hele, who came on as a substitute in this game, played 309 games.
The stability of this lineup is completely different from the idea adopted by Frankfurt, the 2022 Europa League champions, to maintain the healthy operation of the club by continuously buying low and selling players high. Denis Bayer, a reporter for Sky Sports Germany, wrote in his commentary: "When most clubs in Germany tend to import young talents from abroad, but ignore the outstanding players in their own youth training camps, Freiburg owners Jochen Sel (Sports Director) and Hartenbach (Sports Director) will prioritize players from their own youth training camps every year. The result is: against Braga, five of the starting eleven are home-grown players, and there are also five on the bench." With the emergence of top talents like Obus and Tanutse, the next generation is ready. Manzembe and Atumbolu have already achieved breakthroughs, and they will either become the leaders of Freiburg next season, or (more likely) will bring a lot of money this summer.
It was regrettable that Yuito Suzuki bid farewell to the season early due to a broken collarbone, but he still happily celebrated with Manzambi.
Because Freiburg is close to France and Switzerland, it faces a geographical advantage that other Bundesliga clubs do not have when selecting youth training. The selection range is wider. This is why they can train young foreign players such as Manzambi (Switzerland), Macengo (France), and Aubus (Switzerland). More importantly, in the structure of German football, Freiburg is like a quiet haven away from the hustle and bustle, where young players can grow up steadily without being under pressure due to their youthful performance when they first debuted. In addition, in most other Bundesliga clubs, many outstanding talents will be eliminated prematurely in this transitional stage to professional football. Dennis Bayer showed that Freiburg are almost impeccable in this regard, so they can continue to discover new players. The Breisgau-based club should be a model for German football. If all German clubs were as courageous and patient as Freiburg, then Germany would not have problems cultivating young players.