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SC Freiburg keeper Noah Atubolu experienced quite the rollercoaster ride during Thursday evening’s Europa League loss away at Sporting Braga The 23-year-old executed a magnificent save to keep the scoreline level in first-half injury time. Unfortunately, deep into second half injury time, a crucial blunder led to the Portuguese outfit taking the first leg of the semi-final tie 2-1.
Atubolu – who actually set a new Bundesliga record for consecutive number of penalties saved earlier this season – solidified his reputation as a bonafide “penalty killer” with a spot at 45+2. Former Eintracht Frankfurt, FC St. Pauli, and Schalke 04 striker Rodrigo Zalazar struck a powerful effort aimed perfectly at the left-hand-corner. Somehow, Atubolu made a superb stop.
This regrettably was followed up by a bad blunder at 90+2. Atubolu deflected an otherwise harmless shot directly into the path of Braga substitute Mario Dorgeles. The mistake left Atubolu quite grumpy when speaking after full time. The Freiburg native wasn’t quite sure if he felt like taking full responsibility for it yet when speaking to RTL.
Freiburg head coach Julian Schuster, meanwhile, acknowledged the two poor defensive lapses that led to his team conceding on the evening in his own RTL post-match interview. Taking a page from his Bundesliga coaching colleague Vincent Kompany’s playbook, Schuster made sure to emphasize that much remained possible in front of the hometown fans at the Europa Park Stadion next week.
Noah Atubolu speaks on his howler
“To concede such an unnecessary goal is just incomprehensible,” Atubolu grumbled into the RTL microphone. “But. nothing is over yet. We’re making it hard on ourselves because we ran out of steam at the end. It was far too easy for them to play through.
“One problem is that I didn’t see the ball [clearly],” Atubolu continued. “The problem was that I didn’t see the ball. I think it was Philipp Lienhart who was standing almost in front of me or next to me. [All I could do] was get my hands up and brush it away.“
Julian Schuster still confident in Freiburg
“We didn’t defend well in those few moments, and that’s why we were punished,” Schuster said. “We can do better. We have to do better. That can’t happen to us. At home, with our fans, everything is still possible.“
