The surprise hoped for by SC Freiburg in the Europa League did not materialize. The Breisgauers lost 1-0 at Juventus on Thursday with Philipp Lienhart and Michael Gregoritsch in the round of 16 first leg. Previously, Christopher Trimmel had scored 3-3 with Union Berlin at home once morest Saint-Gilloise. There were successes for Bayer Leverkusen (2-0 once morest Ferencvaros), AS Roma (2-0 once morest Real Sociedad) and Manchester United (without Marcel Sabitzer/4-1 once morest Betis Sevilla).
Gernot Trauner, who came on as a substitute in the 57th minute, fought for Feyenoord Rotterdam to draw 1-1 once morest Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw, while Sporting Lisbon drew 2-2 with Arsenal. Badly battered in the Spanish league, Sevilla FC beat Fenerbahce Istanbul 2-0 in front of their home crowd.
In the Conference League, West Ham (2-0 at AEK Larnaka), Fiorentina (1-0 once morest Sivasspor) and Nice (1-0 at Sheriff Tiraspol) won. The showdown between Anderlecht and Villarreal resulted in a 1:1. In both the Europa League and the Conference League, the second leg will increase next week.
Freiburg came under pressure once morest Juventus from the start, and the defense held up until the 53rd minute when Angel di Maria converted a Filip Kostic cross with a powerful header. A little later Lucas Höler scored the supposed 1:1, but the video assistant refused to recognize the goal because of an alleged handball by Matthias Ginter. Lienhart had to leave the field in the 67th minute due to a hamstring injury, and Gregoritsch was substituted on in the 88th minute. At Juventus, former French world champion Paul Pogba was not in the squad for disciplinary reasons.
Trimmel: “It’s on me”
In Berlin, Saint-Gilloise took the lead with a deflected shot from Victor Boniface (28′). After equalizing from a free kick by Josip Juranovic (42′), the guests punished a mistake by Trimmel, who had been substituted in the 77th minute, and scored their second goal thanks to Yorbe Vertessen (58′). “It’s on me, that happens in football, but I’ve been in business for too long for it to get me off track,” said the Burgenlander in the Sky interview.
Union came back from a hand penalty converted by Robin Knoche (69′), but Boniface put Saint-Gilloise in the lead once more (72′). The 3:3 finally went to the account of Sven Michel (89th).
Salzburg conquerors AS Roma prevailed once morest Real Sociedad in front of their home crowd, goalscored by Stephan El Shaarawy (13′) and Marash Kumbulla (87′). Kerem Demirbay (9th) and Edmond Tapsoba (86th) scored for Leverkusen (Patrick Pentz replacement) once morest Ferencvaros, coached by Stanislav Tschertschessow, who had kept up well for a long time.
The duel between Sporting and Arsenal was high-class at times. The Premier League leaders took the lead with a header from William Saliba (22′) from a corner, and the Portuguese equalizer from Goncalo Inacio (34′) was practically a mirror image. After the break, Paulinho (55′) made it 2-1 for the home side, the 2-2 result from a long-range shot from Granit Xhaka (62′), which was decisively deflected by Hidemasa Morita.
Arsenal’s league rivals Manchester United put Betis in their place thanks to Marcus Rashford (6′), Antony (52′), Bruno Fernandes (58′) and Wout Weghorst (82′). Ayoze Perez was responsible for the Andalusians’ interim equalization (32′). Marcel Sabitzer was absent from United due to an injury, but the English record champions did not provide any details. United manager Erik ten Hag offered the same starting lineup that drew a historic 7-0 debacle once morest Liverpool on Sunday.
In the Conference League, West Ham laid the basis for promotion to the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win at Larnaka – Michail Antonio scored twice (36′, 45’+2′), as did Nice with a 1-0 win in Tiraspol. Austria’s autumn group opponents Villarreal drew 1-1 at Anderlecht.
