“We really want to top the group”

The imaginary to-do list from a fan song, which has been sung by Freiburg fans for a year and a half, will be completed on Thursday evening. Having gone over the Alps to Turin and played in Baku by the Caspian Sea, many SC fans are now travelling “across the Channel to London”.

The London Stadium will be the stage for the contest between SC and West Ham, who are both on twelve points and cannot be caught by the other sides in Group A. Given that West Ham won the match between the two sides back in October, Freiburg need to win to go through to the last 16 as group winners, as head-to-head record is more important than goal difference in UEFA competitions.

“We’re not just playing for prestige,” emphasised Christian Streich at the press conference on Wednesday evening. It makes a “huge difference”, if you can skip the play-off round by finishing top of the group. “We really want to claim that first position in Group A.”

Weißhaupt is back fit

Officially, 3500 travelling SC fans will be in the away end in London and there’ll be more in the London stadium unofficially. Noah Weißhaupt, who missed SC’s league game against VfL Wolfsburg will be available again, but Yannik Keitel will miss out unfortunately. However, Streich said that Keitel could be back in the squad for the clash against Köln on Sunday.

Michael Gregoritsch sat alongside SC head coach Streich at the press conference, as is custom ahead of European games. Looking ahead to the match in London, the striker who has scored five goals in his last three games sai,: “We’re always excited for Europa League games because we know that we’ve earned the right to play in the competition. We’re in the situation that we had hoped for; we’re playing with the hope of topping the standings in our final group game.”

Out-of-form Englishmen

Freiburg’s opponents, who are currently in ninth position in the Premier League, suffered a heavy 5-0 defeat to Fulham on Sunday – a result that Streich wasn’t particularly pleased with: “I would have preferred it if they got an undeserved 2-1 win. On Thursday we’ll come up against a side that’s determined to show that Sunday’s result was just a hiccup.”

The guests were particularly dominant in the early stages of the game between SCF and West Ham at the Europa-Park Stadion. “We want to start the game well tomorrow,” said Streich. “They’ll try to press us aggressively from the off and set the tempo, but we’re capable of standing up to West Ham – that’s what we’ll try to do.”