Freiburg's Gregoritsch strikes late to sink West Ham
A late tap-in from Michael Gregoritsch gave Freiburg a 1-0 victory against West Ham in the first leg of their Europa League last 16 tie on Thursday.
A late tap-in from Michael Gregoritsch gave Freiburg a 1-0 victory against West Ham in the first leg of their Europa League last 16 tie on Thursday.
After a testy opening, Conference League holders West Ham almost took the lead on the 65-minute mark, but Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu denied Jarrod Bowen with a superb diving save.
Gregoritsch scored just 11 minutes after coming on, tapping in from a metre out, his fifth goal in seven Europa League games. "We played badly today," admitted West Ham captain Kurt Zouma.
A "very proud" Freiburg captain Christian Guenter told 'RTL' "we threw everything at them - I think we deserved to win." West Ham appealed for a penalty for handball deep into stoppage time after Noah Weisshaupt touched a Kalvin Phillips shot, sending the referee to the monitor.
Freiburg survived a long VAR review to hang on to a slender lead ahead of next week's second leg in London. "I don't know if it was the right decision. The decision took a bit of time and the referee took a lot of time. It is what it is. The game is over. I don't want to go back to it now," added Zouma.
"We were a little lucky today," said goalscorer Gregoritsch. "If a review goes on so long, you have to think to yourself it can't be that clean cut."