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Conference League Player Ratings | Freiburg 3 – 2 FK Jablonec
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- Conference League Player Ratings | Freiburg 3 – 2 FK Jablonec
Conference League Player Ratings | Freiburg 3 – 2 FK Jablonec
SC Freiburg opened their 2026/27 UEFA Conference League campaign with a 3-2 home victory over FK Jablonec. Both clubs had knocked out Scottish opposition en route to the league phase, but the Bundesliga side emerged victorious in their first meeting. Julian Schuster's SC Freiburg – last season's Europa League finalists – have gotten their latest European campaign off to an excellent start. Maximilian Eggestein, who urged local supporters to attend after collecting Man of the Match honors on Sunday , scored a crucial goal and earned Get German Football NewsPlayer of the Match honors once again.
Schuster fields seven new outfielders
Schuster fielded a heavily rotated side compared with the recent Bundesliga victory over Schalke 04. Only four players – keeper Mio Backhaus, central defender Matthias Ginter, previously red-carded Yuito Suzuki , and Eggestein – remained in the XI. Lukas Kübler, Max Rosenfelder, and captain Christian Günter replaced Philipp Treu, Philipp Lienhart, and Jordy Makengo in the back four. Patrick Osterhage slid in for Yannick Engelhardt to work alongside Eggestein in midfield. Cyriaque Irié, Vincenzo Grifo, and Lucas Höler took over for Jan-Niklas Beste, Igor Matanovic, and Derry Scherhant in attack.
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New German national team sensation Scherhant unfortunately had to pull out with an injury.
"Breisgauer Bombardment" pays off
Schuster's men successfully executed several impressive attacking moves in the opening five minutes, twice putting Irié through on the right side. The Burkinabé international nevertheless couldn't find the finishing touch to put an effort on goal. Irié did much better in the 7th minute, pulling down a ball from the right, dribbling inside, and firing a venomous effort just over the crossbar. A nice bit of interplay involving Suzuki and Irié on the right in the 10th minute ultimately saw the ball land with Günter on the left. The captain flashed an effort wide of the right post.
Freiburg remained unrelenting in their assault. In the 11th minute, it was once again Irié stinging the palms of the keeper from a central position. One minute later, Kübler headed an Irié cross off the crossbar. A dazzling individual run from Rosenfelder in the 14th ended up producing the first goal. The recent Germany call-up pushed all the way out of the back ranks to the edge of the area, drawing a tactical foul (and booking) from Jablonec skipper Nemanja Tekijaški. A set-piece situation from 18 meters out, unsurprisingly, was all club legend and dead-ball artist Grifo needed to secure the lead. The SCF record holder blasted the ball into the top corner all too easily for the 15th-minute 1-0.
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Guests equalize against the run of play
The hosts kept up the pressure. Grifo made a solid bid for a brace in the 19th minute with a scorching effort from the left. Grifo also managed to play in Osterhage in the 22nd minute. The SCF midfielder was separated from the ball via a crunching, yet fair, tackle. Jablonec's first major incursion into the box didn't occur until the 26th minute. The Germans initially didn't allow this to turn into a momentum shift. Less than two minutes later, they were threatening again. Kübler headed over in the 27th minute.
As the half-hour mark drew near, the Czechs unexpectedly restored parity. SCF keeper Backhaus was left helpless by an unfortunate deflection off defender Ginter, but Jablonec striker Antonín Růsek had simply been accorded too much space in front of goal. Růsek's close-range effort struck Ginter and found the back of the net in the 28th minute. The goal was officially credited as a Ginter own goal, and the match was suddenly level at 1-1. The hosts pressed hard to restore their lead, generating the next major chance in the 36th minute. Grifo saw a distance effort parried. Irié got another look in shortly thereafter.
Irié and Höler would see additional efforts blocked before the first half was out.
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A wicked double-chance and a VAR review
After a relatively quiet start to the second 45, matters proceeded to get interesting some eight minutes after the restart. A scintillating distance effort from Eggestein in the 53rd minute led to a corner. The resulting scene produced a little pinball in which Jablonec defender Dušan Pavlović inadvertently sent the ball over his own goal line.
Match official Edgars Maļcevs initially disallowed the goal due to a purported Freiburg foul in the build-up. The Freiburg bench protested heavily and, after being compelled to take another look by the VAR team, Maļcevs reversed his decision. Replays confirmed that Pavlović's attempted clearance had crossed the goal line, and the 2-1 was allowed to stand.
Eggestein quickly adds another
Freiburg's consummate "team player" extended the lead roughly ten minutes after the second Freiburg goal was allowed to stand. Given the captain's armband after Günter departed the pitch, Maximilian Eggestein hammered home the 3-1 in the 65th minute. Kübler did well to lay off a blocked effort at the feet of his teammate. Showing no hesitation, Eggestein fired in his fourth goal across all competitions this season from a central position about 16 meters out.
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Freiburg remained dangerous until the very end. Substitutes Makengo and Matanovic neatly combined to generate two more scoring chances in the final ten minutes. Grifo also came within inches of setting up Sunday's substitution hero Keisuke Goto one minute from the end of normal time. A late concentration lapse off a throw-in in the 90th+3 minute did enable Jablonec to pull a goal back, making Eggestein's insurance tally all the more significant. The Freiburg FanKurve still saluted their dominant team loudly and proudly after the full-time whistle.
SC Freiburg Player Ratings
Mio Backhaus ( 5) – Lukas Kübler ( 6), Matthias Ginter ( 7), Max Rosenfelder ( 6), Christian Günter ( 6) – Maximilian Eggestein ( 8), Patrick Osterhage ( 5) – Cyriaque Irié ( 8), Yuito Suzuki ( 5), Vincenzo Grifo ( 8) – Lucas Höler ( 6)
Substitutes: Jordy Makengo ( 6 ), Igor Matanovic ( 7 ), Philipp Lienhart ( 6 ), Keisuke Goto ( 5 ), Philipp Treu (-)
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GGFN Conference League Player of the Match: Maximilian Eggestein (8)
Top-notch performances from wingers Grifo and Irié certainly make the choice difficult. Moreover, veteran German defender Matthias Ginter also put on another incredible display on both sides of the ball during his ongoing late-career form surge. Eggestein's persistent hustle simply cannot be ignored. The Hannover native and longtime Werder Bremen mainstay covered a sensational amount of ground en route to amassing 92 touches and playing 82 passes, 98 percent of which connected. The 29-year-old pulled the strings in midfield excellently, serving as the Sport-Club's unfailing linchpin throughout.
With four goals already this season, Eggestein remains well on pace for his most prolific Freiburg campaign yet.
