Motherwell’s European adventure hit a speed bump at Fir Park on August 20, as SC Freiburg came away from Scotland with a 2-1 first-leg victory in the UEFA Conference League playoff round. The result hands the Bundesliga side a slim but meaningful advantage heading into the return leg on August 27.
The match turned on two connected moments: a VAR review that resulted in Motherwell defender Martin Moormann being shown a red card, and the subsequent penalty that Freiburg’s Matthias Ginter buried to help seal the win.
How the night unraveled for Motherwell
Motherwell had earned the right to host a Bundesliga club after dispatching HJK Helsinki 2-0 on aggregate in the previous round.
Moormann, the 25-year-old center back who arrived from Austrian side Blau-Weiss Linz during the summer transfer window, was dismissed following a VAR intervention. Ginter, the veteran German international who has spent chunks of his career at both Freiburg and Borussia Monchengladbach, stepped up to convert from the penalty spot.
