Shortly before the final whistle, Union still scores – the Freiburg board of directors reprimands their own fans

Union Berlin has celebrated an important victory in the fight for a place in the knockout stages of the Europa League. The Bundesliga leaders won the home game on Thursday evening against the Swedish representative Malmö FF thanks to a converted penalty kick by defender Robin Knoche (89th) 1-0 (0-0) and moved up to one point in Group D to second-placed Sporting Braga approaching. Third place and thus the ticket for the knockout phase in the Conference League in February are already safe for the iron. Shortly before the end, Malmö's Emmanuel Lomotey saw the red card for an overly hard start.

After the fan riots with pyrotechnics and firecrackers in Malmö, the second leg took place in the sold-out stadium An der Alten Försterei with a good 22,000 spectators under great security precautions.

SC Freiburg was able to continue its winning streak in the Europa League and qualified early for the knockout rounds on Thursday. Coach Christian Streich's team, who returned to the bench after surviving the corona disease, won 4-0 (1-0) at French cup winners FC Nantes on Thursday and thus secured at least the intermediate round. After four wins from four games, the second in the Bundesliga is well on course to win the group, which will be rewarded with a secure ticket to the round of 16. The goals in Nantes were scored by defender Lukas Kübler (25'), the two substitutes Michael Gregoritsch (71') and Kevin Schade (82') and Wooyeong Jeong (87').

Pyrotechnics were ignited several times both in the block of the French Cup winners and in that of Freiburg. Freiburg's sports director Jochen Saier condemned the actions of his own fans. "That's a no go," he said. "Rockets and firecrackers are extremely dangerous." Of course, it was "outstanding how popular it is," Saier said of the 2,000 or so supporters who traveled with us, "but that hurt today. Pyro is to be rejected by the club. That was a different level and we hadn't had that before."

The match between 1. FC Köln and Partizan Belgrade was also characterized by the use of pyrotechnics. The game was interrupted twice in the first half. After the use of pyrotechnics by the Serbian fans, referee Roi Reinshreiber felt compelled to take this measure because of the obstructed view due to the clouds of fog. The stoppage time of the first half was ten minutes. After the riots in Nice, Cologne supporters were officially not allowed into the stadium.

Cologne clearly lost the game 2:0. A week earlier, the Cologne team had lost their group game against the Serbian team 0-1 in their own stadium. Fousseni Diabatè (15') and Ricardo Gomes (52') scored for the hosts in Belgrade.