Head coach Julian Schuster's side were able to guarantee themselves at least two more Europa League games in the new year, with their 1-0 win over RB Salzburg on Thursday night enough to cement themselves in a play-off spot with two league phase matchdays left to go. SC also still have a chance to move up the standings and qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

SC can now shift their focus to their final two Bundesliga games of the year, with a home game against Borussia Dortmund coming up first on Sunday. A week later, SC will travel to take on VfL Wolfsburg in their final match of 2025 (Saturday, 20th December, 15:30 CET).

The match against Salzburg saw thousands of SC fans light up the Europa-Park Stadion with sparklers before kick-off, and will have brought back memories of one of SC's previous meetings with Borussia. Back in December 1993, the club's maiden season in the Bundesliga, SC ran out 4-1 winners against BVB in front of another sea of twinkling lights at the Dreisamstadion.

SC have only managed to win four of their league games against Dortmund in the 32 years since, the last of which came nearly four years ago. Vincenzo Grifo scored early on in that meeting back in August 2021, and is confident that the team will be able to take something off the league's third-placed side this time around too. "We have to manage to bring that same level of energy and power to the pitch in order to make life tough for Borussia," he said. "It's about not affording them any room. If we manage to do that, then the odds are good that we'll manage to pick up some points."

SC's players have played a total of 22 games across three different competitions over the last four months. However, Schuster isn't concerned about his side lacking energy ahead of their final two games of the year, saying, "Knowing that the finish line of a marathon is in sight can also give you a second wind."

Photo: SC Freiburg