At the end of its first English week this season, SC Freiburg receives Borussia Mönchengladbach (Sunday, 5.30 pm), one of its favourite opponents – and as league leader.
“Sleep well, eat well, hit the ice” was the programme Maximilian Eggestein announced late on Thursday evening after the win against Qarabag Agdam for the days until the next home game. “Then we will have the strength again on Sunday,” the midfielder was sure. His team-mate Matthias Ginter, on the other hand, needed ice in small portions on his temple to cool the violet he got right in the opening minutes from his opponent’s elbow.
It shouldn’t prevent him from starting on Sunday against his former club, from whom he moved back to his training club in the summer. “Playing every three or four days is better than training, and then two home games in a row – that’s really good,” said Ginter, already looking forward to the next task. “I’m very happy that we’re currently winning the close games, that helps us,” explained the 28-year-old, “with a sense of achievement, it’s good to keep working on our game.” Not only in the Europa League opener, but also in the Bundesliga, Sport-Club have won each of their last three games by a one-goal difference.
Favourite opponent Gladbach
And now an opponent comes to the Europa-Park Stadion who traditionally has a hard time in Freiburg. In the past two seasons, the duel ended in a draw, but Borussia has only won once in Freiburg. That was more than 20 years ago, in March 2002 with a 1-0 win, thanks to a goal by Arie van Lent. But the current Borussia team no longer has much in common with the team of the previous season, SC coach Christian Streich warned: “Gladbach is very variable, very offensive, an opponent who wants to solve a lot of things with football. They are up for it and have come in well.” They would do “tactically really well” with new coach Daniel Farke. “But we have confidence,” Streich said confidently, “but we have to look to put the power on the pitch, otherwise you won’t make it. “
Three games in one week? “A nice stress “
There could therefore be changes compared to the Qarabag game. Defender Manuel Gulde is set to return to the squad after a capsule injury in his ankle. The same applies to striker Kevin Schade after a month-long break, who is, however, initially expected to collect first minutes in the second team, in the third league match at Wehen Wiesbaden. Last weekend, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh and Lukas Kübler, among others, were on duty with the U23s to gain competitive experience. Both then returned to the first-team squad in the Europa League, and Kyereh was also substituted against Qarabag. “We have a good wide squad, and are well prepared,” Eggestein was optimistic about the upcoming English weeks. “Three games in a week is already stress, but it’s a nice stress, and we earned it last season. “