Despite losing 2-0 away at West Ham’s London Stadium on Thursday, the atmosphere was comparable to that of a home game. “The atmosphere was obviously really cool,” said Michael Gregoritsch, who didn’t take the loss in London to heart all too much: “The loss doesn’t make our season a catastrophe. We’re into the play-offs and are looking forward to these games and Sunday will give us a chance to get back on the right track. That’s one of the advantages of playing in Europe – three days later you’ve got the next match.”
Gregoritsch and his teammates can once again expect to be playing in front of a lively home crowd in Sunday’s contest against Köln. Last season, Freiburg did the double over the side from Cologne, with Gregoritsch scoring in SCF’s 2-0 win at the Europa-Park Stadion. The overall head-to-head record is also in favour of Sport-Club, having won 21 out of 44 games in all competitions (D8, L15).
Köln have improved as of late
Both Köln and SC have only lost one of their last five matches in all competitions, but Vincenzo Grifo und Co. have won three of those five in comparison to Köln’s one victory. “We’ve picked up a good amount of points in the last three games and we’re on a good run of form, which we aim to continue,” explained Grifo after the loss in London.
After 14 matchdays, Köln find themselves in 16th position in the league and are fighting to get themselves out of the relegation battle, which is why Grifo stated that the clash will be a “tough battle”. “They are low down in the standings, but they’ve got quality in their side,” said the Italian. FC head coach Steffen Baumgart seemed confident thanks to the improved results as of late, despite not being fully satisfied: “We’ve only lost once in the last five matches; that sounds positive, but the football that we’ve been playing hasn’t been at the level that I want it to be. I’m not always satisfied with the way that we are performing on the pitch.”
Christian Streich did not mention Sunday’s game in his interview after the clash against West Ham, in which his side were “motivated, but not good enough” according to him. The 58-year-old said: “Our spirits are not at an all-time low” and on Sunday Thursday’s disappointment is sure to be a thing of the past.