Adamu pen earns Freiburg hard-fought point in Bologna | OneFootball

Freiburg faced one of their toughest group stage tests on Thursday evening as they travelled to the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara to take on Bologna. The hosts, one of two Serie A representatives in this season’s Europa League alongside Roma, took to the field in their striking sky-blue strip and looked the more assured outfit during the early exchanges.

As expected, the Rossoblu dominated possession and exuded confidence on the ball, while Freiburg initially sat back and tried to settle into the game. Neither side managed an attempt on goal during a cagey opening 13 minutes, with the match characterised by tense midfield battles and careful probing.

The first real opening came when Riccardo Orsolini picked out Santiago Castro with a clever pass, the latter firing into the side-netting from a tight angle. Freiburg responded shortly after, with Philipp Lienhart heading well over the bar from a Phillip Treu cross in the 21st minute.

Moments later, the visitors came close to breaking the deadlock. After a corner was flicked back into the danger zone by Maximilian Eggestein, Johan Manzambi’s effort from 12 yards was cleared off the line by Castro to keep the score level.

Bologna opened the scoring in the 29th minute, capitalising on a myriad of Freiburg errors. The visitors failed to deal with Odgaard’s cross, Nicolò Cambiaghi’s shot was spilt by Noah Atubolu, and Riccardo Orsolini was on hand to smash the rebound into the roof of the net.

Freiburg came out for the second half with renewed energy and nearly found an equaliser in the 54th minute. Philipp Lienhart met a corner with a powerful header, only to be denied by a superb reflex save from Łukasz Skorupski. However, a VAR check from the same incident revealed a handball by Santiago Castro, and the referee pointed to the spot.

Junior Adamu made no mistake from twelve yards, calmly sending Skorupski the wrong way with a precise finish into the bottom-left corner to bring Freiburg level. It was a deserved reward for a much-improved start to the second half from Julian Schuster's side.

The visitors should have completed the turnaround in the 68th minute when Derry Scherhant broke through one-on-one, but Skorupski produced another vital save to keep Bologna level. The rebound fell to Niklas Beste, who tried to recycle the chance but also saw his effort blocked.

Substitute Eren Dinkçi came close to making an instant impact moments after coming on, firing over from a tight angle in the 75th minute following a slick Freiburg move.

From there, the game gradually lost its intensity, with neither side able to carve out any clear openings in the closing stages. Europa League Matchday 2 ultimately ended all square, with Freiburg taking a point home from their visit to Emilia Romagna.