SC have already eliminated three teams from the cup this season and are looking to knock out a fourth side on Wednesday evening. After away victories over Würzberger Kickers (1-0), VfL Osnabrück (2-2 AET, 3-2 on penalties) and TSG Hoffenheim (4-1), only VfL Bochum stand between Freiburg and a semi-final place. “It’s an incredible competition and anything can happen. We’ve worked hard so far and put in a very good performance against Hoffenheim. We’ve also got 40 points in the league, so we’re in a good position right now,” Christian Streich described his side’s spirits ahead of the cup tie.

SC Freiburg have already visited the Vonovia Ruhrstadion once this season, and they won’t have particularly fond memories of the trip they made there in late November 2021. As Freiburg missed chance after chance against Manuel Riemann in the Bochum goal, Milos Pantovic scored from over 40 yards out as Bochum emerged 2-1 winners on the day. “We did a lot well that day and couldn’t believe we’d lost at full-time,” remembers Streich. “We want to perform as well as we did there in the league tomorrow, but obviously we’d like to score at least one more than Bochum. We’re confident going into the match and we’ll need to show the same hunger and fight as Bochum will. I’m convinced it’ll be a very close game.”

Despite a narrow 1-0 defeat at home to RB Leipzig last weekend, VfL’s strength on their own turf hasn’t changed much since they beat SCF in November. “They play with real aggression and pure energy. We know they’ve got a speedy attack already. They’re a really good Bundesliga side, they play good football and even beat Bayern 4-2 at home. We know what to expect,” warns Streich whilst discussing the upcoming opponents.

One reason why SC are heading into the cup tie in good spirits is due to the two recent wins they’ve picked up in succession. During the 3-0 victory over Hertha, Freiburg’s substitutes also showed what an important influence they can have on the game. Kevin Schade, Lucas Höler, Noah Weißhaupt and Ermedin Demirovic all had their part to play in the closing stages of the game and helped SC to extend their lead and prove what they can do as players.

The coaching staff revealed very little during Tuesday’s press conference as to whether changes would be made to the starting XI due to the fact that Freiburg play two matches this week and that the substitutes made a real impact against Hertha. Streich stressed that even the starting formation is not yet decided: “A few players were out with a cold, so we’ll have to take that into account. However, we’ll obviously put our strongest XI out against Bochum, regardless of the upcoming Leipzig game on Saturday.”