SC Freiburg

SCF’s last match of the calendar year 2023 will be at 1. FC Heidenheim on Matchday 16. Kick-off at the Voith-Arena will be at 20:30 CET on 20th December.

“A win against Backa Topola could put us in a great position,” stressed Christian Streich at the pre-match press conference on Wednesday. For the SC coach, the table is not the only important thing going into Thursday’s match. “We’re at home, where we haven’t won our last two games.” Chiccho Höfler, who attended the press conference alongside Streich, added: “The fans have been filling the stadium for years now and we want to give them something back.” The crowd at the Europa-Park Stadion on Thursday evening is expected to be around 31,500, with a few tickets still available. 80 away fans will make the journey from Serbia.

Merlin Röhl was denied by Gladbach keeper Moritz Nicolas in the second minute in what was a good start for SC. Christian Streich’s wish of more aggression in duels was granted and Freiburg began strongly. After seven minutes, Lucas Höler had a great chance to make it 1-0 after Philipp Lienhart’s header, but could only put the ball into the arms of Nicolas. Just a minute later though, the forward went one better to open the scoring. Röhl, who received a nice ball from Kiliann Sildillia, lifted his head up to square it across the six-yard box for Höler, leaving him the simple task of scoring into an empty net.

“We now have to support the boys as much as possible. It is not easy mentally – you always have another game and after the Pokal exit the boys are obviously disappointed,” said Streich, based on what the players have said, and the fact that games are coming thick and fast. “We wanted the boys to calm down and to rest. We have tried to ensure that the disappointment hasn’t lingered for too long.” The head coach is confident that this has worked. “The boys were fully focussed on Gladbach today. They were calm and they also have a good relationship with each other. That obviously helps. We can now go into this next game with a newfound bravery.” There is another positive, with Yannick Keitel back in team training.

Their opponent’s goal didn’t make it any easier, with Paderborn able to sit deep in their own half. Patience was needed. The first chance at goal for SC came after eleven minutes, with Gregoritsch heading a Grifo cross goalwards, but he couldn’t get enough power behind his effort. The guests had most of the possession, while Nicolas Höfler showed his quality on the ball with a couple of neat turns. When the guests had the ball and looked to break forward they provided a threat, with Ritsu Doan forced to clear the danger under pressure within his own box in the 17th minute.

Following on from the team’s 2-0 win against SV Oberachern in the first round, head coach Christian Streich is expecting Wednesday’s game to “be another close affair, where we will need to leave it all out there in order to reach the next round.” Under Lukas Kwasniok, who spent time as a player and coach at Karlsruher SC, SC Paderborn currently sit in 12th place in Bundesliga 2 with 15 points from 11 games. The team suffered a 3-1 defeat in the league at Hertha BSC last weekend, but cruised past Energie Cottbus in the opening round of the cup with a 7-0 win.

Both teams were in action on Thursday and enjoyed victories on the European stage. Whilst Sunday’s game was SC’s second away game in less than 72 hours, Leverkusen had the luxury of playing at home in both the Europa League as well in the Bundesliga.

It’s going to be an extremely tough game for SC, especially because two players who started the Europa League fixture in Topola are now out injured. Roland Sallai had to be taken off after a muscle issue, while Maximilian Philipp damaged his shoulder. The pair will not only miss the trip to Leverkusen, but also potentially the coming games too.

“In the first half, our positional play wasn’t good enough at times and we conceded because we were totally asleep. It allowed our opposition to gain confidence in the game,” head coach Christian Streich was critical of the first 45 minutes in his post-match interview but went on to compliment his team’s second-half showing. “Our positioning was much better after half time and then we got our goals. In the end, it was a deserved win against very hard-working opposition.” 

Serbia’s second oldest football team were stuck in the third and fourth divisions for decades and even played in the leagues of other countries due to the volatile history of the region. It was only in 2013 that FK TSC, located near the Hungarian border, began its steady sporting ascent thanks to extensive financial support coming from Hungary.