El Ouahdi’s stunner gives Genk slight advantage over Freiburg
| Daniela Porcelli/Getty Images |
Although the first chance of the game came from Genk’s Zakaria El Ouahdi, Freiburg had a positive start to the game. Johan Manzambi thought he put the visitors ahead inside the first ten minutes, but the goal was chalked off following a brief VAR check.
Five minutes later, English referee Chris Kavanagh signaled for another VAR intervention for a potential penalty-kick for the hosts. However, the decision went in the direction of the Germans this time around.
In an end-to-end start to the game, Manzambi was denied another golden opportunity with an excellent block from Josue Kongolo. Genk dominated the proceedings after that, and they did get their reward at the midpoint of the first-half.
El Ouahdi scored with a volley after an equally excellent one-two play with Bryan Heynen, who returns after missing the weekend’s defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise due to suspension. It’s the ninth goal of the season for the Moroccan right-back with five of those goals coming in this competition.
Konstantinos Karetsas nearly doubled the lead for Nicky Hayen’s side, but his effort narrowly missed the target. Unlike the balanced first 15 minutes, Genk were in cruise control after the goal. El Ouahdi would’ve added an assist to his goal if it wasn’t for Aaron Bibout’s tame header from a promising position.
However, Julian Schuster’s side nearly found their way to get back in the game when Yuito Suzuki’s deflected volley hit the woodwork. Freiburg also started the second-half positively with Genk’s goalkeeper Tobias Lawal avoiding punishment for punching Matthias Ginter because the center-back had been adjudged to have fouled Joris Kayembe earlier.
At the hour mark, Ibrahima Sory Bangoura also went through a VAR scare when his challenge on Jan-Niklas Beste left the winger to be substituted. However, the Guinean midfielder was left unpunished as Schuster went on to make double substitutions.
Genk preferred to hold on to their slender lead after the restart, while Freiburg failed to materialize their dominance into chances until Igor Matanovic was denied by Lawal in the last action. The Breisgau-Brasilianer are winless away from home in 2026. The matchwinner El Ouahdi was lucky to escape a second booking in the closing stage of the game. However, he'll still be out for the return fixture after picking up his third yellow card of the campaign.
Freiburg will hope to reverse the score at home, where they’re currently in a 16-game unbeaten streak before Sunday’s match against Union Berlin. Genk will face Sint-Truidense in the penultimate round of the regular season in Belgium before next week’s return leg.
