Nearly four years after Eintracht Frankfurt captured the Europa League crown, another Bundesliga club has the chance to collect the UEL trophy and claim a Champions League spot. In his second season coaching Freiburg , Julian Schuster has managed lead Freiburg back to Europe and potentially to Europe's grandest stage for the first time in club history. Schuster's Breisgauer are headed to Istanbul for the 2025/26 Europa League Final!
Freiburg shook off a 2-1 defeat in the opening semi-final leg away at Braga and an unfortunate late howler from keeper Noah Atubolu to book passage to the final via a 3-1 home win. A capacity crowd at the Europa Park Stadion watched their beloved Schwarzwaldverein advance courtesy of a 4-3 aggregate scoreline. Virtually all SCF professionals rose to the occasion on this historic evening.
Buoyed by the amazing pre-kickoff choreo displays from their hometown fans, Schuster's team began the match eager to move forward and dive into every midfield duel with full commitment. As such, early proceedings were intensely physical. Both teams pushed the limits of match official Davide Massa's boundaries in the opening five minutes. Massa eventually didn't hesitate to step in. When Ivorian attacker Mario Dorgeles felled Freiburg's Jan-Niklas Beste outside the box in the 6th-minute, Massa immediately pulled out the red card due to the denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity.
After Dorgeles' sending off, the affair proved totally one-sided. The German hosts – via Beste and Lukas Kübler – made multiple incursions down the right-hand-side. Kübler appeared destined to make something happen from open play, yet ultimately scored the 1-0 off a weird set-piece situation in the 19th-minute. Braga failed to clear a Grifo corner. Kübler collected the ball and drove toward goal. A floppy shot from Kübler and a random deflection off Braga's Jean-Baptiste Gorby somehow enabled Kübler to place the ball in the back of the net.
Freiburg's Swiss phenom doubled the advantage in the 41st minute, flinging open the door to the UEL Final in spectacular fashion. Manzambi cut in on the left and powered home a beautifully bent effort from 20 meters out. The 20-year-old's 2-0 was a truly impressive technical finish straight into the right hand corner. Following this memorable goal, Braga nearly restored the aggregate tie before the end of the first half. A double chance at 45+1 saw Victor Gomez strike the post. Former Bundesliga striker Rodrigo Zalazar was unlucky not to turn home the rebound.
The Germans came out for the second half full of energy, determined to score the decisive third goal that would put the issue beyond all doubt. Somehow, Grifo (47th-minute), Matthias Ginter (49th-minute), and Manzambi (53rd-minute) all found themselves centimeters away from the back of the net. Manzamabi also shot just wide in the 62nd-minute. Braga keeper Lukas Hornicek executed a fabulous double save on a Freiburg triple chance in the 70th-minute. For a time, it appeared the much-needed insurance goal would not come.
SCF fullback Kübler finally did net the 3-0 in the 72nd-minute. In stark contrast to his totally random opener, the 33-year-old's second goal of the night was well finished. Kübler deftly headed home a Grifo free kick to seemingly wrap matters up. Seven minutes later, however, Pau Victor headed home a Victor Gomez cross from close range. Gorby very nearly sent the match to extra time in the 88th-minute. Freiburg keeper Atubolu more than atoned for his mistake last week with a heroic acrobatic tip-over of Gorby's scorching ranged effort.
Atubolu made another clutch tip-over save at 90+6 and came out to claim a dangerous loose ball just before the full-time whistle.
Noah Atubolu (9)– Philipp Treu (6), Philipp Lienhart (6), Matthias Ginter (7), Lukas Kübler (9)– Nicolas Höfler (6), Maximilian Eggestein (6) –Vincenzo Grifo (8), Johan Manzambi (9),Jan-Niklas Beste (8)– Igor Matanovic (6)
Substitutes: Jordy Makengo (), Bruno Ogbus (), Lucas Höler ()
One certainly doesn't wish to take anything away from brace-scorer Kübler, without whom Freiburg wouldn't be celebrating their final berth at all. The Bonn-native continue to prove himself an ageless wonder routinely produces monster matches for his long-time club. Kübler (9) and keeper Atubolu (9) earn the same numerical marks as our GGFN Man-of-the-match.
Manzambi led the enthusiastic Freiburg professionals statically with five shots on goal and 25 passes. He connected with most all of his incisive through-balls. Though he didn't win every midfield duel, his froward sprints with the ball kept the team moving forward and allowed Grifo, Beste, and Igor Matanovic to keep the Braga defensive ranks guessing with their rotations.
Again, the author emphasizes that it was a close call.
No Freiburg starter was simply average on this fantastic eve.
