Gutsy Motherwell go down swinging vs Freiburg as World Cup winner and VAR play part in Conference League loss

Former World Cup winner Matthias Ginter notched a brace as 10-man Motherwell lost 3-1 in the first leg of their Conference League play-off with Freiburg.

Regan Charles-Cook ignited the tie with an early opener for the Fir Park hosts before Freiburg levelled soon after with Ginter, capped 51 times by Germany, off a free-kick routine. Martin Moormann was sent off for Motherwell following a VAR check in the second half and Ginter converted the resulting spot-kick. Leg two is next week at Europa-Park Stadion with the Bundesliga favourites all but into the league phase of this year’s Conference League after Keisuke Goto’s second half stoppage time header.

It was an almighty task for manager Alfred Johansson’s Premiership side who had performed admirably amid a sizeable injury list to get this far. Faroese side HB Torshavn had been swept aside and a Fir Park night to remember was had last week as they eased past HJK Helsinki of Finland. This was a different kettle of European fish entirely though against top European opposition who finished seventh in the Bundesliga last season and reached May’s Europa League final.

It was David with one arm behind his back versus Goliath but a sizeable blow was landed by the underdogs inside two minutes. A sweeping move that displayed all the best parts of Motherwell’s possession-based style set Emmanuel Longelo off down the left and Charles-Cook tucked his shot home.

Bedlam ensued inside a packed Fir Park mere minutes after a banner that read ‘go further than those before you’ was held aloft and those dreams were given an added spark. Fans turning up at last week’s clash versus HJK perhaps did so expecting Motherwell progression, but given the difference in finances between this pair, hope was the tonic of the day in North Lanarkshire.

It certainly tasted sweet as questions of what if started to be asked against a Freiburg side who hadn’t played a competitive match to this point. Anybody who watched highlights of their 3-0 friendly dismantling of Conference League holders Crystal Palace at the weekend though would attest to the top quality the Black Forest outfit possessed. That started to become apparent as they awoke from their early slumber and started to dominate proceedings.

Their leveller was more route one . A free-kick into the box, topped off with an age-long VAR check, was converted by experienced defender Gunter with a second looking likelier the closer half-time loomed. Motherwell’s goal was to get there level or perhaps land another haymaker with the visitors showing their quality and going close on multiple occasions.

Referee Radu Marian Petrescu checks the VAR monitor before sending off Motherwell's Martin Moormann | SNS Group

Seb Palmer-Houlden came on for a debut at half-time in place of goalscorer Charles-Cook to try and give his new teammates an outlet to remove themselves from their own half after the break. They had started brighter but the mission bordered on the impossible sort Tom Cruise would be proud of after an hour. Central defender Moormann brought down Yannik Engelhardt in the box, penalty given, and a VAR check soon sent him packing. It was a cruel blow for the home team who had battled admirably, but the 2014 World Cup winner did not care, Ginter blasting into the bottom corner.

Johansson said pre-match that his men would need to suffer and that they did in order to avoid the game getting out of hand but Goto’s header from a corner proved a killer late blow. A healthy travelling support will follow Motherwell to Freiburg where only one of Scottish football’s biggest-ever European away wins will do if the league phase is to be reached.