Freiburg edge past West Ham

Michael Gregoritsch popped up with a late winning goal to give Freiburg a slender lead over West Ham United in the first-leg of their UEFA Europa League Round of 16 tie.

LINEUPS

FREIBURG XI: Atubolu; Sildillia, Ginter, Gulde, Gunter; Hofler; Doan, Eggestein, Holer, Grifo; Sallai

FREIBURG SUBS: Uphoff, Muller, Makengo, Kubler, Szalai, Keitel, Weisshaupt, Muslija, Rohl, Gregoritsch, Adamu, Philipp

WHU XI: Fabianski; Coufal, Mavropanos, Zouma*, Emerson; Soucek, Alvarez; Kudus, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta; Bowen 

WHU SUBS: Anang, Areola, Ogbonna, Johnson, Cresswell, Casey, Phillips, Orford, Earthy, Antonio, Mubama, Ings

Action: After facing each other in the group stages of this competition, there was a concern that this one may become a little predictable with the two teams able to match up well against each other.

The first-half very much went along those lines as neither side could make a breakthrough, despite both teams naming more or less their strongest possible elevens.

Freiburg did, though, have slightly the better of it in the first-half with over 60% of the ball and eight attempts but it was a typically Moyesian affair with very little happening at either end of the pitch. 

Freiburg, with their home advantage, did keep up their aggressive and front foot style in the second-half but the best chance in the opening stages of the half came for the visitors.

England international Jarrod Bowen did his classic move of cutting inside onto his left foot before bending one towards the far corner but goalkeeper Noah Atubolu produced an excellent save to deny the former Hull forward.

Then, with around ten minutes of the 90 to go, Freiburg took the lead via Michael Gregoritsch. The Austrian attacker tapped home at the back post after a low, driven effort across goal by Roland Sallai.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="de" dir="ltr">Michael Gregoritsch delivers a hammer blow to West Ham in the final ten minutes in Freiburg 😯 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UEL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UEL</a> <a href="https://t.co/7V1OFgSb0G">pic.twitter.com/7V1OFgSb0G</a></p>&mdash; Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) <a href="https://twitter.com/footballontnt/status/1765855221001961511?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

West Ham continued to push for parity but couldn’t find a breakthrough and were controversially denied a penalty in stoppage-time when the referee went across to the pitchside monitor to analyse a clear handball by Noah Weisshaupt but the ref decided there was no foul play and Freiburg hung on.

The big picture: Freiburg suffered two losses to West Ham in the group stages but will head to London with a slender lead. They have Bochum away on Sunday and are currently winless in their last six Bundesliga matches. The Hammers have recently enjoyed successive victories in the Premier League and they will face Burnley at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Man of the match: Michael Gregoritsch. In an uneventful and fairly low quality game, it was Michael Gregoritsch with the crucial and decisive moment in the match. 

EVENTS

Kick-off

Half-time

’79 | GOAL: Gregoritsch (1-0)

Full-time