Bilal El Khannouss and Deniz Undav saved VfB Stuttgart from another disappointment in the Europa League with their late goals. The 21-year-old midfielder El Khannouss (84th minute) and striker Undav (90th + 1) led the Swabian Bundesliga club to a 2-0 (0-0) home game against Feyenoord Rotterdam in front of 60,000 spectators. Coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s team is now halfway on target with six points after four match days and has progress in its own hands. In three weeks the Swabians will compete against their next Dutch competitor, the Go Ahead Eagles Deventer.
SC Freiburg continued its successful streak in the Europa League and is on course towards the knockout phase. The Breisgauer team won 3-1 (3-1) at the French first division soccer team OGC Nice and thus secured their third victory in the fourth game. Johan Manzambi (29th minute), Vincenzo Grifo (39th, penalty kick) and Derry Scherhant (42nd) scored for coach Julian Schuster’s team. Kevin Carlos (25th) initially put the southern French in the lead.
While Freiburg secured themselves in the top group of the league phase with ten points, Nice are deep in the table cellar with zero points. The Freiburg team had to do without the loud support of their fans who had traveled with them. They remained quiet for a long time in protest against what they saw as the excessively strict actions of the law enforcement officers. Things also became strange after Freiburg’s equalizer: because in his opinion the air pressure of the balls was not correct on several occasions, the referee complained to Nice’s kit manager.
FSV Mainz 05 also had a win in the Conference League. The Rheinhessen won at home against AC Florenz 2:1 (0:1), got their third win on the third matchday of the league phase and came a big step closer to direct entry into the round of 16. Jae-Sung Lee scored a goal in stoppage time for FSV’s much-celebrated victory. Simon Sohm had previously given the guests from Italy the lead in the 16th minute after a bad pass from Danny da Costa. After the break, Joker Benedict Hollerbach scored in front of 30,300 spectators to make it 1-1 for the 05ers (68th), before Lee secured the victory.
After five games without a win in the Bundesliga, Mainz achieved the much-needed sense of success. Florence, which is in last place in the domestic Serie A after a historically bad start, has now suffered its first defeat in the Conference League.