Julian Schuster slams his players after Freiburg’s reality check

SC Freiburg lost on Sunday to HSV in the penultimate matchday of Bundesliga. Julian Schuster didn’t hide his frustration after the game as he felt the players should’ve done much better regardless of their Europa League achievement.

“I can’t be satisfied with our performance today,” Schuster started his rant. “We had imagined things would go differently, and that has to be our standard, regardless of what happened during the week.

“We made the wrong decisions on the ball throughout the first half. We had chances, but didn’t manage to capitalize on them. We had to work harder defensively, and that’s more demanding when you don’t have as much energy,” complains the 41-year-old before moving on to the other things that irritated him.

“We’re conceding goals far too easily. You can’t put that down to tiredness. We could have got a different result with a better performance, and everyone knows what that would have meant. We have to accept it with a heavy heart. Congratulations to Merlin and HSV on the three points.”

Freiburg will host RB Leipzig, who are already through to the Champions League, four days before the Europa League final against Aston Villa. The club's first major trophy would also send Schuster’s men to Europe’s premier competition.

If they match the results of Eintracht Frankfurt and Augsburg in the season finale and fall short in the Istanbul final, Freiburg will secure a Europa Conference League participation.