SC Freiburg vs. Motherwell FC Conference League preview: Team news and predicted lineups

SC Freiburg will hope to secure their place in the league phase of the Europa League as they host Scottish side Motherwell on Thursday. Julian Schuster’s side won the reverse fixture in North Lanarkshire 3-1 last week.

Despite Regan Charles-Cook’s strike inside two minutes, last season’s Europa League finalists were dominant throughout the encounter. Matthias Ginter scored a career-first brace before Keisuke Goto’s debut strike extended their lead in the final kick of the game.

Motherwell, who have never been in the group stage (league phase) of European competition, are now facing a challenge that none of Freiburg’s Europa League opponents achieved last term. The Breisgau side won each of their last eight European outings at Europa-Park Stadion, which sets a new record in the Europa League.

Freiburg followed that up with a confident 5-1 victory away at Fortuna Düsseldorf in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. Igor Matanović was the star of the show as he registered a brace and an assist in less than 25 minutes of action.

Team News

Max Rosenfelder goes off injured ten minutes before the end of last week’s first leg, and he missed Sunday’s cup action. Former Real Madrid academy player Philipp Lienhart is expected to partner Ginter at the heart of Freiburg’s defense once again.

Meanwhile, Motherwell’s center-back Martin Moormann is suspended after his straight red card at Fir Park.

Predicted Lineups

Freiburg: Backhaus; Treu, Ginter, Lienhart, Makengo; Eggestein, Engelhardt; Beste, Suzuki, Grifo ©; Matanović

Motherwell: Paulsen; Longelo, Wilson, Knight-Lebel, Girdwood-Reich; Fadinger ©, Hodge, Lowry; Said, Charles-Cook, Maswanhise