football
14 goals: German European Cup representatives are taking big steps towards the knockout rounds
Bayer Leverkusen celebrates the 2-1 – more goals were to follow
© Marius Becker / DPA
5:1, 3:1 and 6:0 – there were plenty of goals for the German clubs in the Europa League and Conference League. Reaching the knockout round is getting closer for them.
Goal festival for the German representatives in the Europa League and Conference League. Bayer Leverkusen, the SC Freiburg and Eintracht Frankfurt clearly won their games. The games at a glance:
Bayer Leverkusen clears Qarabag Agdam
Led by the outstanding national soccer player Florian Wirtz, Bayer Leverkusen continued its successful streak in the Europa League. The Bundesliga table leaders celebrated a gala goal in front of their home crowd on Thursday evening and defeated Karabakh Agdam 5:1 (3:1). With another win in two weeks at Agdam, last year’s semi-finalists would be perfect for their place in the knockout round of the Europa League after just four of six games. For the first time in 22 years, Bayer started a European Cup season with three wins.
National player Wirtz conceded Karabakh’s first goal in the current competition in the 4th minute. The Azerbaijanis, who had also previously won twice, equalized with a penalty kick after Granit Xhaka was blacked out by Tural Bajramow (16th). Alejandro Grimaldo (29th), Victor Boniface (35th) and again Grimaldo (54th), each on a pass from Wirtz and Edmond Tapsoba (57th), ensured the dominant victory.
SC Freiburg wins with a hat trick at Backa Topola
Thanks to a hat trick from Vincenzo Grifo, Bundesliga club SC Freiburg celebrated its second win in the group stage of the Europa League. The Breisgauer team beat Serbian runner-up FK TSC Backa Topola 3-1 (0-1) on Thursday evening. After Nemanja Petrovic had put the hosts in the lead (13th minute), captain Grifo turned the game around: first the Italian international converted a hand penalty (49th), then he scored with a direct free kick (59th), before completing his hat-trick with a made another goal (73rd) perfect.
With this success, Freiburg took a big step towards the knockout rounds. However, the injuries to Roland Sallai and Maximilian Philipp, who had to be substituted in the first half, dampened the joy. Coach Christian Streich’s team now has six points in Group A.
Eintracht Frankfurt completes half a dozen against HJK Helsinki
Eintracht Frankfurt is on course for the next round of the Conference League with a convincing home win. The Bundesliga club beat HJK Hensinki 6-0 (4-0) on Thursday and climbed to first place in Group G after their second win in the third game. Dina Ebimbe (12th minute/hand penalty/89.) , Robin Koch (27th), Omar Marmoush (31st), Tuta (45th + 3) and Ellyes Skhiri (55th) scored the goals for coach Dino Toppmöller’s team. After the 1:2 defeat at PAOK Saloniki at the beginning of October, the Hessians are back on track in the Conference League. It was Eintracht’s third competitive win in a row.