SC Freiburg

A mistake from Ramy Bensebaini gave SC their first corner after three minutes. Ritsu Doan found Lucas Höler in the middle, but his header was easily saved by Gregor Kobel (4’). At the other end, Matthias Ginter did well to clear a Julian Brandt cross destined for Sébastien Haller (5’).

Photo: Achim Keller

Maximilian Eggestein is particularly looking forward to the atmosphere in the stadium: “We expect a hostile environment – it was impressive last year,” the midfielder recalled. The Olympiacos fans have had reason to be in good voice as of late given that their team has been performing well. Diego Martinez’s side have won three and drawn one (against title holders AEK Athens) of their opening four games in the Greek Super League, scoring ten goals and conceding none.

A year ago, Christian Streich’s team were able to deal with the heady atmosphere of the Karaiskakis Stadium and come out as convincing 3-0 victors. Just over 12 months on from that memorable victory, the scoreline had become a lot tighter but the same side took all three points. “We played a good first half, especially on the ball. After the break, we were a bit unsettled and lost the ball too many times, failing to play things out well enough on occasion. It was a real cauldron, an emotional atmosphere and we came through it all in Piraeus. That means I’m pretty satisfied,” concluded Christian Streich in his post-match press conference.

The next opponents, Eintracht Frankfurt, are also familiar with these kinds of weeks. This season, the team newly coached by Dino Toppmöller are involved internationally again, playing in the Conference League. On Thursday evening, Eintracht began their campaign with a 2-1 win over Aberdeen. Two set-piece goals paved the way to victory. Both teams are working constantly. “Frankfurt are in the same position as us,” says Philipp. “We’ll see who’s got more energy.”

Dino Toppmöller’s Frankfurt made two changes to their starting eleven, with Mario Götze and Paxten Aaronson dropping to the bench to be replaced by Farès Chaibi and Aurélio Buta.

His opposite number, Christian Streich, feels that FCA are “a side always ready for a battle.” He expects them to play with confidence and belief after the win over Mainz and a good performance, albeit without the right result, in Leipzig. “It will be a really close and tough game,” stated the SC boss, who wants his team to “play with the same discipline and desire” as they did in Frankfurt. “I won’t be too worried if we are then also creative in the final third too,” he added.

Then, it was the turn of the remaining first and second division sides. SC will have a home game, having been pulled out of the hat by 2014 World Cup winner Mustafi first. This is the second time in a row that the team have played at home in the second round, having gone through against FC St. Pauli at this stage last season. This time, SC’s opponents at the Europa-Park Stadium will be Zweitliga side Paderborn, who registered a dominant 7-0 win against Energie Cottbus in the previous round. They are currently in tenth place in the 2. Bundesliga.

New signing Angelo Stiller replaced Lilian Egloff in Hoffenheim’s midfield, having only joined the club a few days ago. Head coach Sebastian Hoeneß made no further changes to his starting line-up, with the team having put in a solid first-half performance against Leipzig last weekend.

SC’s fixtures: