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Freiburg have not won a major honour in their 121-year history and have only made it to one final before, in 2022, when they lost the DFB Pokal final to RB Leipzig.
Now, in what is the biggest game in their history so far, they play Aston Villa in the Europa League final, in a David vs Goliath match-up (at least in terms of finances).
The beginning of the first half was dominated by the English side, but as the game went on, Freiburg were able to grow into it, and were even going toe to toe with the fourth-placed Premier League side.
However, just before half-time, Villa would take the lead when Youri Tielemans volleyed home a corner to make it 1-0. Then, in added time of the first half, former Bayer Leverkusen player Emiliano Buendia made it 2-0, meaning Freiburg had a lot of work to do in the second half.
In the second half, just before the hour mark, Ollie Watkins would make it 3-0, practically ending the tie and ending any of Freiburg’s hopes of a major trophy.
Although they missed out on the trophy, the fact that Freiburg are even in the Europa League final is a testament to the work of Julian Schuster, as well as the foundations laid by Christian Streich and others in the Breisgau.
For this edition of Freiburg, this may also be the end of the road/cycle. Nicolas Höfler is retiring, while the likes of Lucas Höler, Matthias Ginter, Vincenzo Grifo and Lukas Kübler are all the wrong side of 30 while Phillip Lienhart and Maximilian Eggestein are approaching 30.
It will be the job of Schuster to refresh this team and not make this European run a one-off.
Back to the final, at the end of the day, there is a major difference between these two teams.
One is a fan-owned club from the south-west of Germany that has not paid a fee higher than €10m, while the other is owned by billionaires and have even been in PSR trouble in recent years. Adding to this, via transfermarkt, Freiburg’s squad value is €191m compared to Villa’s €547m, a value that the Baden side can only dream of, once again indicating the gulf in class between the Premier League and the rest of Europe. meaning that the Super League exists, and it is in England.
So the stats quite clearly point that Freiburg shouldn’t be dumped on for their performance in this final, they were always the underdog.
This loss means next season, Freiburg will be in the UEFA Conference League. If they can go on a similar run, they will have a good chance to win it.
At least Prince William got to see Nicolas Höfler play.
Freiburg:
Noah Atubolu (5) – Philipp Treu (5), Philipp Lienhart (5), Matthias Ginter (5), Lukas Kübler (5) – Nicolas Höfler (6), Maximilian Eggestein (5) – Vincenzo Grifo (5), Johan Manzambi (5), Jan-Niklas Beste (5) – Igor Matanovic (5)
Substitutes: Lucas Höler (5), Max Rosenfelder (5), Derry Scherhant (5), Jordy Makengo (5)
GGFN | Jack Meenan