Europa League: West Ham Narrowly Lost First-leg Tie To Freiburg

 

SC Freiburg narrowly made away with a 1-0 home victory against West Ham with a late goal in the Europa League Round of 16 first-leg tie. 

The Bundesliga side opened West Ham's defense with a couple of passes before Christian Gunter's cut-back rightly landed for Rolland Sallai to blast and the ball went in Michael Gregoritsch's path to tap home from close range. 

West Ham nearly had the deficit undone when Noah Weisshaupt got his hand to a ball clearance in the box but the referee ruled out the Premier League side's appeal for a penalty after checking with the VAR. 

Overview

It was a well-deserved victory Frieburg. They controlled a fair portion of the game and even when West Ham fought back, they were able to make something out of the chances had in front of the goal late into the game. 

West Ham did play well in search of the goal for much of the second half but  Gregoritsch was left unmarked leading to the goal stunner from inside the area. Freiburg have never gone this far in a European competition and they have earned this win right.