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Ten-man Motherwell gave themselves an uphill battle in their Europa Conference League play-off as Freiburg ran out 3-1 winners at Fir Park in the first leg. Freiburg take a healthy lead to Germany next Thursday after Matthias Ginter netted a double. It took Motherwell just 73 seconds to break the deadlock when Regan Charles-Cook sidefooted into the net, but Freiburg’s pressure paid off after 27 minutes when defender Ginter headed them level. The German side dominated the first half after the early goal and remained on top after the break. When Yannik Engelhardt was released into the box in the 65th minute, Martin Moormann hauled him down, conceding a penalty and also seeing red. Ginter converted from the spot and Keisuke Goto added a third in stoppage time with a header. Having reached last year’s final, Freiburg spent a reported £30m in the close-season in a bid to go one better this season. But it took Motherwell just 73 seconds to get on the scoresheet as Emmanuel Longelo raced down the left and his cutback was side-footed into the bottom right corner by Charles-Cook. Freiburg threatened when Niklas Beste’s free-kick from the left was met by Ginter in the box, but his shot was well saved by Alex Paulsen. Igor Matanovc’s low effort was pushed past the left post by Paulsen and seven minutes later, Derry Scherhant clipped the left post with a 20-yard free-kick. Yuito Suzuki tested Paulsen with a stinging drive on 25 minutes, which Paulsen parried before the ball was booted clear. But Freiburg levelled two minutes later when Scherhant’s free-kick from the left was headed in by Ginter. Matanovic stung Paulsen’s palms with a powerful drive in the 36th minute, Philipp Treu had a shot parried four minutes later and Beste fired over in first-half stoppage time as Freiburg pushed to take the lead. Motherwell’s Tawanda Maswanhise should have done better than fire high and wide from the left corner of the box on 57 minutes. Suzuki then sent Engelhardt through and he went down under a challenge from Martin Moorman, with referee Radu Petrescu pointing to the spot and VAR advising him to red-card the Motherwell defender, rather than the booking he had initially received. Ginter stepped up and netted into the left corner, just past Paulsen’s outstretched hand. Scherhant was next to sting Paulsen’s fingers with a powerful drive as Freiburg looked to take a commanding lead. Substitute Vincenzo Grifo sent a driven pass across the face of goal on 85 minutes, with no takers, but his stoppage-time corner from the right was nodded in by Goto.