There is no shortage of motivation or excitement at Achim-Stocker-Straße ahead of the UEFA Europa League round-of-16 second leg against KRC Genk. Julian Schuster and Patrick Osterhage left no doubt about that at the press conference on the eve of the game. “When I look at training and the mood in the dressing room, I’m convinced we’ll produce a really good performance,” said the midfielder. “You don’t need to motivate anyone any extra in a situation like this,” added his coach. “These are the kind of games you do not get to play too often in your career.”

SC need at least one goal after the 1-0 defeat in the first leg to keep their hopes of progressing alive. Even if the performance in Belgium was not what the team and coaching staff had set out to deliver, Schuster said the analysis of the match still revealed positives: “You mustn’t forget how we started the game. That was a real positive. We could and ought to have scored in that spell.” The Breisgau side also showed against Bayer Leverkusen at home that they can respond well to going behind. There, he said, they had “earned that momentum back”.

A crowd of 33,000 is expected at the Europa-Park Stadion on Thursday evening. “It’s important that the people in the stadium bring energy,” said Schuster. “So that together, as we’ve shown so often before, we can create that force.”

First-leg goalscorer El Ouahdi suspended for Genk

KRC Genk picked up important points last weekend in the battle for a place in the top six, keeping their hopes of reaching the Belgian league’s championship play-offs alive. The scorer in their 1-0 win over VV St. Truiden was right-back Zakaria El Ouahdi, who had also netted the only goal of the game against Freiburg. Perhaps some good news from SC’s point of view, is that the Moroccan is now suspended on Thursday evening after picking up too many yellow cards.

There are no changes to Freiburg’s squad compared with the 1-0 defeat to FC St. Pauli on Sunday. Maximilian Eggestein, who was suspended for the first leg, is available again. “We’re glad we have options and can bring fresh energy off the bench,” said Schuster. “That gives us as a coaching staff a really positive feeling.”

Freiburg’s recent home record in Europe also offers reason for optimism. Over the last four seasons, SC have played in Europe in three of them and had 13 home matches in that time, winning ten. There have been only two home defeats in that time. In the second leg of the Europa League round of 16 in 2022/23, Christian Streich’s side were beaten 2-0 by Juventus – though they also played the entire second half with ten men. Then in 2023/24, West Ham United won 2-1 at the Europa-Park Stadion in the group stage, only to suffer a 1-0 defeat at the same venue five months later in the first leg of the round of 16.

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