Freiburg Overcomes Ball Issues for Victory in Europa League

In a situation reminiscent of a recent incident involving Mainz, SC Freiburg encountered difficulties with deflated footballs during their Europa League match on Thursday night. Unlike a mere inconvenience of practice balls, Freiburg struggled to play nearly the entire first half with improperly inflated match balls.

Before the half-hour mark was reached, the match ball had to be replaced on three separate occasions due to being flat. Greek referee Anastasios Sidiropoulos expressed his frustration by vocally addressing the officials and was overheard chastising stadium staff members by pitch-side microphones.

Fortunately for Freiburg, these issues did not affect the match’s outcome. The team, known as the Breisgauer, scored three goals in the last 15 minutes of the first half, ultimately securing a 3-1 away victory against their French opponents. Veteran German defender Matthias Ginter, who assisted the first goal, shared his thoughts on the ball situation afterward.

“Tonight was totally weird,” Ginter remarked to RTL. “Sometimes I watch my friends play in the Kreisliga, where the ball can be a bit flat. The referee complained that the ball we were using wasn’t properly inflated. Thankfully, they managed to inflate it during halftime.”