Grifo nets another free-kick in Freiburg’s comfortable win over Utrecht | OneFootball

Freiburg collected seven points in the first three Europa League games after a 2-0 win over Utrecht. Both goals were scored in the first-half as Freiburg also extended their unbeaten run to eight games in all competitions.

Julian Schuster rotated his squad after yet another draw in the weekend at home against Eintracht Frankfurt. Vincenzo Grifo, who rescued a point for Freiburg with his ninth Bundesliga free-kick goal, returned to the side, while there is a rare start for the new signing Yuito Suzuki.

Both fullbacks also changed, but it was Grifo’s set-piece that nearly caused the first goal once again. Mike van der Hoorn escaped the danger of scoring an early own-goal from a wide free-kick by the former Italian international. Grifo, then, assisted Maximilian Eggestein’s effort, which went down as the game’s first shot on target.

Utrecht barely saw the ball in the early exchanges, with Sebastian Haller limited to off-the-ball movement as he’s still looking for his first goal since signing for the club permanently. The Eredivisie team already registered the fewest shots on target (2) in the first two rounds of the competition.

And, before even having a shot off target on this one, they conceded the opening goal. On his Europa League debut, Suzuki scored his first goal for Freiburg with a composed finish. Freiburg’s long-serving left-sided players – Christian Günter and Grifo – played big roles in the buildup of the goal.

Five minutes later, the other fullback, Philipp Treu, also came close for an assist, but Junior Adamu missed the target from close range. Boosted by the goal that broke the duck, Suzuki followed it up with a spectacular effort, but Vasilis Barkas made his first save of the game to deny the Japanese a quick brace.

But that effort was bettered by Johan Manzambi a few minutes later. The Swiss international rattled both the post and crossbar with an unstoppable drive. From Utrecht’s first meaningful attacking move, Grifo created a counterattack chance for Suzuki, but Alonzo Engwanda produced a magnificent last-ditch tackle.

The visitors showed more energy in the closing stage of the half, but they were undone by the free-kick specialist. Grifo scored from yet another direct free-kick, with Barkas making the same mistake Kauã Santos punished for in Sunday’s Bundesliga game.

Since his first while playing for Dynamo Dresden nearly 12 years ago, the former Gladbach and Hoffenheim winger has now scored 22 direct free-kick goals in professional football. However, this is the first time he scored from dead balls in back-to-back games.

After the restart, Suzuki continued his blistering performance with another attempt before setting up Jan-Niklas Beste’s effort inside the first five minutes. The ex-Heidenheim superstar was forced to be subbed off early in the second-half due to an injury.

Eren Dinkçi, who was also once a player of Frank Schmidt’s team, comes in his place. Maximilian Eggestein was the next to come close to scoring, but Barkas blocked his shot to deny the midfielder a second Europa League goal. Utrecht were the better side for the rest of the half, although Noah Atubolu wasn’t forced to make a big save all night.

Including the next Europa League fixture in Nice, Freiburg will play away from home in four successive matches after tonight. They will face the demoralized Leverkusen side on the weekend before a DFB-Pokal tie in Düsseldorf.