BERLIN (AFP) – Freiburg warmed up for Thursday’s Europa League visit of Premier League side West Ham with a comfortable 2-0 home win over struggling Augsburg in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Freiburg took the lead early, Italy winger Vincenzo Grifo stepping up to convert a penalty after Roland Sallai was fouled in the box just two minutes in.
Philipp Lienhart doubled Freiburg’s lead early in the second half, heading in Grifo’s corner.
Augsburg looked to have launched a late comeback when Sven Michel scored with under 10 minutes remaining, but the goal was chalked off when VAR showed the forward was narrowly offside.
Freiburg, who like West Ham won their opening Europa League fixture, made it to the final 16 of the tournament last season before being eliminated by Juventus.
Earlier on Sunday, promoted Darmstadt won their first Bundesliga match of the season, thumping Werder Bremen 4-2 at home.
Darmstadt scored after just four minutes and were 4-0 up after 62 minutes, before Bremen pulled two goals back in eight minutes to give their travelling fans hope.
Bremen coach Ole Werner brought on former Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita from the bench with 20 minutes remaining, the summer arrival adding energy and impetus as the visitors fought back, but they could not bridge the gap as Darmstadt held on.
“We defended the victory tooth and nail. Now we are happy,” Darmstadt coach Torsten Lieberknecht told DAZN.
Bremen manager Werner acknowledged his side’s “deserved loss”, saying “it’s difficult to grab points playing like that”.
