SC Freiburg moved a step closer to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals after a dominant 3-0 victory over Celta Vigo at the Europa-Park Stadion on Thursday night.
The result extended Freiburg’s impressive run to 10 straight home wins in the competition and gave them a strong advantage ahead of next week’s second leg in Spain.
After suffering a painful late collapse against Bayern Munich at the weekend, Freiburg responded in style.
They controlled the game from the opening whistle and nearly took the lead inside two minutes when Igor Matanovic headed over the bar.
The hosts eventually found the breakthrough after 10 minutes through club icon Vincenzo Grifo. Freiburg’s all-time leading scorer curled a fine effort into the bottom corner from outside the box to put the German side ahead.
Although Celta enjoyed spells of possession, they failed to create any real danger.
Freiburg doubled their advantage just after the half-hour mark when Matanovic showed great awareness to square the ball for Jan-Niklas Beste, who tapped into an empty net.
Freiburg nearly added a third before half-time, but Johan Manzambi struck the post.
The home side remained in control after the break, while Celta struggled to threaten.
Despite being one of the highest-scoring teams in the competition before this round, the Spanish club failed to register a single shot on target.
Freiburg eventually sealed the win with less than 15 minutes left when defender Matthias Ginter headed in from a corner.
The victory leaves Freiburg in a strong position to reach the Europa League semi-finals, while Celta must now produce a major turnaround at home if they want to keep their European hopes alive.
