Celta Vigo up against it in Europa League after Freiburg thrashing

Freiburg 3-0 Celta Vigo

Celta Vigo are staring down the barrel of a Europa League at the quarter-final stage, after they were soundly beaten by Freiburg in the first leg of their tie.

Celta would have hoped for a similar result to Real Betis ahead of next week’s return leg at Balaidos, but it was not the case. Their woes started after 10 minutes when Vincenzo Grifo found the far corner from the edge of the box, much to the delight of the home support inside the Europa-Park Stadion.

Just beyond the hour mark, Freiburg would double their advantage. A good team move ended with Jan-Niklas Beste tapping home from a couple of yards out, which really had Celta up against it in Germany.

The uphill task facing Celta at the interval caused head coach Claudio Giraldez to make changes, with Jones El-Abdellaoui and Fer Lopez to be introduced. However, neither had the desired effect, and it was much of the same in the second half, up until the moment Freiburg notched their third goal of the evening.

It was far too easy for Freiburg. Beste turned provider on this occasion as his corner was perfectly on to the head of Matthias Ginter, who headed beyond Celta goalkeeper Ionut Radu to complete a dismal evening for the Galicians.

Celta have little to lose going into return leg next week

Lopez almost grabbed a crucial goal back for Celta late on, but he missed a big chance late on, which summed up the visitors’ night. They have it all to do next week in the return leg, but roared on by a raucous Balaidos crowd, there will be some belief that they can mount a sensational comeback.

However, it is absolutely clear that they must significantly improve from their showing in Germany, which was far from good enough.

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