Trabzonspor suffered their first defeat of the UEFA Conference League league phase, losing 1–0 at home to Freiburg. Mohamed Salah started and played the full 90 minutes in the Matchday 3 clash at Papara Park.
Lukas Kübler scored the only goal in the 14th minute, pouncing on a rebound off goalkeeper André Onana after a corner. Salah came close to equalising before half-time, then saw his close-range effort saved by Mio Backhaus in the 61st minute.
After the match, Salah admitted that both he and Fabinho had fallen short of their best. “I had chances I should have taken,” he said, adding that his Brazilian teammate also knew he could have played better.
“You can’t hide when things go wrong. We have to stick together and stand by each other, especially on nights like this,” Salah added. Trabzonspor had put Freiburg under pressure in the second half but were unable to find an equaliser.
Trabzonspor head coach Thomas Reis was frustrated by his side’s first 15 to 20 minutes. He said they had given the ball away too easily and lost too many individual battles before conceding from a corner.
“In the second half, I saw a team fighting for each other and looking to create chances. I think we deserved at least a draw,” Reis said. He felt Freiburg had created little, especially after the break, but his own side had failed to make their chances count.
Reis also pointed to the lack of quality in Trabzonspor’s crossing and their difficulty getting the ball to striker Paul Onuachu. He singled out Salah’s effort as one of their best chances to equalise and said his focus would now turn to getting back to winning ways on Sunday.
Trabzonspor remain on six points after opening wins over Finland’s KuPS and Scotland’s Hearts. They face CSKA Sofia in their next European fixture, while Freiburg’s victory also took them to six points.
