Freiburg’s Matthias Ginter speaks on deflated match balls in Europa League match at Nice | OneFootball

Much as was the case for Mainz during one of their recent away matches, Bundesliga Europa League representatives SC Freiburg had to deal with the indignity of deflated footballs on Thursday night. This time, however, it wasn’t a simple matter of deflated practice balls. Freiburg had to play almost the entirety of the first half without properly inflated match balls. 

Thrice before the opening half hour was completed, the match ball had to be replaced due to it being flat. Greek referee Anastasios Sidiropoulos finally lost his patience and complained vehemently to the officials. Pitch-side microphones caught Sidiropoulos angrily chastising stadium staff members. 

Thankfully for Freiburg, the matter didn’t end up swaying the result. Germany’s Breisgauer ended up scoring three goals in the final 15 minutes of the first half en route to a 1-3 away victory over their French hosts. Veteran German defender Matthias Ginter, who assisted on the first goal, spoke on the balls afterwards.

“Tonight was totally weird,” Günter told RTL. “Sometimes I look in on my friends playing in the [tenth tier, fully unprofessional] Kreisliga, where the ball is sometimes a little flat. [The ref] complained that the ball in use wasn’t properly inflated. Luckily, they pumped it up at halftime.”

GGFN | Peter Weis