Freiburg took a major step toward sealing qualification for the UEFA Europa League knockout stage after overturning an early deficit to defeat Nice 3-1 at the Allianz Riviera, extending the French side’s miserable record to 10 games without a win against German opposition.
Desperate for their first group-stage victory after three straight defeats, Nice made a bright start and found the breakthrough midway through the opening half.
Kevin Carlos latched onto a perfectly weighted pass from Charles Vanhoutte before slotting beyond Noah Atubolu to net his second Europa League goal of the campaign.
However, the opener only sparked Freiburg into life. The visitors took control and deservedly equalized before the half-hour mark when Yuito Suzuki capitalized on a poor touch from Nice skipper Melvin Bard, setting up Johan Manzambi to fire home his maiden goal in European competition.
Bard’s nightmare continued moments later as he clumsily brought down Suzuki inside the box, allowing Vincenzo Grifo to calmly dispatch the resulting penalty and put Freiburg ahead.
Freiburg weren’t done yet. Before halftime — in a first period twice halted due to deflated balls, Derry Scherhant’s deflected effort made it 3-1, capping a ruthless spell for Julian Schuster’s men.
With parts of the stadium empty due to UEFA sanctions following a previous pyrotechnic incident against Roma, Nice lacked their usual home support.
Despite showing more intent after the restart, their end product was lacking, with Salis Abdul Samed blasting over from a promising position their only clear chance.
Freiburg, content to sit back and strike on the break, could have further extended their advantage with better precision in the final third.
In the end, they comfortably saw out the contest to move onto 10 points and into the competition’s top eight, firmly on course for a place in the last 16.
For Francesco Farioli’s side, however, the defeat leaves them staring at an early exit and nothing short of victory away to Porto in their next group game will keep their Europa League hopes alive.
