Freiburg’s win over Celta Vigo has landed them in the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League, the furthest the Breisgau club have ever gone in European competition, and there’s every reason they can go all the way.
Julian Schuster’s side made history when they made it to the quarter-final stages of the competition, and they’ve now gone one step further following their 6-1 aggregate victory over Celta Vigo.
Schuster was full of praise for his side after their unforgettable win in Spain: “I feel a deep sense of gratitude. Gratitude that we get to experience exactly these moments together. Gratitude, too, that the team was able to prove it again today, that they picked up exactly where they left off last week—that this is anything but a given, but rather very, very impressive.”
By storming past Celta, Freiburg ensured that there are still two Bundesliga sides in the semi-finals of a European club competition this season, following Bayern Munich’s thrilling quarter-final victory over Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League.
Freiburg’s piece of the European pie has been cut in the Europa League, where they’ve lost just two of 12 games in the tournament, and booked their spot in the semi-finals with an eye-catching two-legged win. They’ll now face Portuguese outfit Braga, who beat Celta’s LaLiga rivals Real Betis 5-3 over two games to reach the last four.
Freiburg captain Vincenzo Grifo was delighted with his team’s performance in Spain, and full of excitement for the semi-final: “I think that after going 1-0 up, we kind of took the wind out of their sails. In the dressing room, we knew that we’d created an incredibly good situation for ourselves,” explained the Italian.
“And then it’s a matter of defending that. We knew we’d get our chances because they’d definitely be taking big risks. And we took full advantage of that – goals two and three were the same story. And that was that. Now the semi-finals are a reality!”
Domestically, the Black Forest club are eighth in the Bundesliga, 11 points behind Hoffenheim in the final European qualification spot, with just five games to play. So, while it’s still mathematically possible for them to sneak in there in the remaining weeks, they may have to go all the way in Europe or win the DFB Cup to qualify again.
Despite the excitement surrounding their cup competition runs, Schuster is staying grounded ahead of a return to Bundesliga action at the weekend.
“I think it’s much, much more important to focus on ourselves, to make sure we keep moving forward. Keep that focus going, don’t let anything slip, don’t let up for even a second. It’s also incredibly important to keep pushing on this Sunday. We managed that well twice, at St. Pauli and against Mainz. And now we’ll do the same this Sunday against Heidenheim.”
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