Atubolu saves penalty but Freiburg suffers late defeat to Braga
Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu saved a penalty but the Bundesliga team suffered a late 2-1 defeat to Braga in the first leg of their Europa League semi-finals tie on Thursday. Braga took an early lead through Demir Ege Tıknaz. Jordy Makengo cleared Rodrigo Zalazar's cross to the far post but the ball was recovered by Victor Gomez.
He met Tıknaz, who slid the ball into the net with a touch in the eighth minute. But the guests didn't take long to level. Jan-Niklas Beste crossed the ball to Vincenzo Grifo, who beat the goalkeeper to collect it and scored in the 16th.
The hosts had a huge chance to retake the lead shortly before the break as they were awarded a penalty after Gustaf Lagerbielke was fouled inside the box by Philipp Lienhart. Atubolu, however, stretched out his arms to save Zalazar's spot-kick. But the goalkeeper couldn't do anything to stop Mario Dorgeles's effort in added time as Braga will take the advantage for the return leg in Germany next week.
"It's unbelievable. We made things difficult for ourselves. But everything is possible in the return leg, especially at home.
We believe in ourselves, the fans believe in us," Atubolu told broadcasters RTL. In the other semi-final match, Nottingham Forest defeated Aston Villa 1-0 in the all-English duel.