Freiburg thrash Leipzig to secure European spot ahead of Europa League final

[p]The visitors almost made the perfect start to the match as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/diomande-yan/0p2ORrJi/"]Yan Diomande[/a]’s superb run put the Ivory Coast international in a great position with only three minutes on the clock. However, his end product was disappointing, and he could only prod his close-range effort straight at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/atubolu-noah/UwlvfZCm/"]Noah Atubolu[/a].[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/freiburg/fiEQZ7C7/"]Freiburg[/a] gradually grew into the game and ended up taking the lead shortly after the midway point of the first half, when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/beste-jan-niklas/YcZe7BNN/"]Jan-Niklas Beste[/a] reacted quickest to slot the ball home after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ginter-matthias/27fpNoQk/"]Matthias Ginter[/a]’s initial header struck the bar.[/b][/p][image alt="Match stats" id="45e2156b-4ed4-492f-b261-763812da2272" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="8a369958-586b-48f1-883a-a0f71639b784" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/rb-leipzig/KbS1suSm/"]Leipzig[/a]’s situation suddenly went from bad to worse, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/matanovic-igor/j5PxPTVi/"]Igor Matanović[/a]’s superb header to meet [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/manzambi-johan/pIqmcnKc/"]Johan Manzambi[/a]’s right-wing delivery doubled the Breisgau-Brasilianer’s advantage just two minutes later. [/b][/p][p][b]Ole Werner’s side didn’t feel sorry for themselves, though, and managed to quickly halve the deficit after 33 minutes when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ouedraogo-assan/bs71GRSt/"]Assan Ouédraogo[/a] drilled the ball into the bottom corner from 20 yards out for his fourth league goal of the season. [/b][/p][p][b]The hosts flew out of the blocks for the start of the second half and duly restored their two-goal cushion, thanks to Ginter’s composed close-range finish aided by some dismal Leipzig defending just two minutes after the restart. [/b][/p][p]This really seemed to deflate the visitors, and the tempo of the contest notably dropped from both sides.[/p][p][b]That didn’t stop Freiburg from wrapping up the game in style, though. With a quarter of an hour remaining, Matanović teed up [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/scherhant-derry/jRG1UH32/"]Derry Scherhant[/a] perfectly and he made no mistake to rifle the ball past [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gulacsi-peter/lYMcgOCg/"]Péter Gulácsi[/a] from inside the box and ensure Freiburg ended the Bundesliga term in style.[/b][/p][image alt="Bundesliga table" id="28169a0d-65c2-4916-9fb4-26b6ce7e2d4d" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="ea4a2033-43ae-4e62-aced-2ece689a54d6" original-width="1200" original-height="1200" /][p]Freiburg must now switch their attention to Wednesday evening in Istanbul for, arguably, the biggest match in the club’s history versus [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/aston-villa/W00wmLO0/"]Villa[/a].[/p][p]Meanwhile, Leipzig finish the league season in third position and can look forward to competing in next season’s UEFA Champions League.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/matanovic-igor/j5PxPTVi/"]Igor Matanović[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/freiburg/fiEQZ7C7/"]SC Freiburg[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/freiburg-fiEQZ7C7/rb-leipzig-KbS1suSm/summary/stats/?mid=GphrOx1U"]Check out all the match stats with Flashscore[/a][/b][/p]