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Kuebler brace sends Freiburg past Braga into Europa League final / Photo: Silas STEIN - AFP
Kuebler brace sends Freiburg past Braga into Europa League final
Lukas Kuebler scored in each half as Freiburg beat Braga 3-1 at home on Thursday to win 4-3 on aggregate and and qualify for the Europa League final where they will face Aston Villa.
Freiburg trailed by a goal from the opening leg but were given a leg up after seven minutes when Mario Dorgeles of Braga received a straight red card.
Kuebler's opener and Johan Manzambi's brilliant effort had the hosts 2-0 up and one ahead in the tie by half-time.
Kuebler added another in the second-half.
Pau Victor pulled one back for Braga late, Freiburg held on to reach a first European final.
Freiburg have never won a major trophy nor qualified for the Champions League but could do both with a win over Villa in the final in Istanbul.
The defeat ended Braga's hopes of returning to the Europa League final for the first time since 2011, when they lost 1-0 to domestic rivals Porto.
Locked at 1-1 for much of the opening leg, Braga winger Dorgeles' late goal gave Braga a first-leg advantage.
Braga coach Carlos Vicens rewarded the Ivorian, naming him in the starting XI in the only change. Just seven minutes in however, Dorgeles turned villain for the visitors.
With Freiburg's lightning-quick Jan-Niklas Beste on the attack, Dorgeles brought the Freiburg winger down and was shown red for a last-man foul.
The hosts took the lead with 19 minutes gone when Braga's Vitor Carvalho's clearance hit an on-rushing Kuebler and trickled in at the far post.
While Freiburg's first goal had a slapstick feel, their second, which gave them the lead in the tie, was one of pure quality.
Manzambi drove through the middle and unleashed a curling strike past the diving Lukas Hornicek.
Only some remarkable goalkeeping from Hornicek and the post prevented Freiburg from adding another after the break, with the visiting keeper keeping the hosts at bay with a spectacular double save on 68 minutes.
The pressure told shortly when Kuebler headed in a Vincenzo Grifo free-kick to give Freiburg a two-goal cushion.
With 11 minutes remaining, Victor headed in a cross to cut Freiburg's lead.
Braga had two late chances to level but were kept at bay by some acrobatic goalkeeping from Noah Atubolu.
At the final whistle, the Freiburg ultras stormed the pitch in celebration of reaching the second major final in their history, after the 2022 German Cup.
D.Cameron--SMC
