There are a few interesting things to note about this clash. It’s SC’s first home game in the tournament since 29th October 2019, and their first Pokal game at the new ground. Wednesday will be a day of reunions – not only with St Pauli, who were the first ever opponents at the Europa-Park-Stadion and will therefore be always connected of the ground, but also for the Eggestein brothers: Maximilian plying his trade in the centre of the Freiburg midfield, while Johannes leads the line for the visitors.

Furthermore, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh could be on the pitch against his ex-club, for whom he scored twelve times and assisted ten more in his last 2. Bundesliga campaign. It is only "could" as Kofi is still a doubt with muscular issues. "We have to get a full green light from Kofi, the physios and the doctors," said Christian Streich at Tuesday’s press conference. "If there is any serious doubt, we won’t take the risk. Our squad is big enough, someone else can get the opportunity.”

Disappointment after the Bayern game

Although Freiburg go into this one as heavy favourites, the mood could be better following last weekend’s result. While St. Pauli were on cloud nine following a 3-0 victory against bitter local rivals Hamburg, the Sport-Club suffered a 5-0 loss at the hands of Bayern München. “We considered sitting deeper, but we considered to just go out and play as we would. What if we sat deep and Bayern just outplayed us so we lose 3-0 anyway? At least we didn’t lose our identity with this 5-0 defeat, and we weren’t aggressive enough in the duels,” said Streich in retrospect.  According to the coach, it wasn’t down to the squad’s fitness: “The team were in top shape.”

The team are now nonetheless able to “go into this game with full intensity.” He commented: “St. Pauli have got a lot of momentum from their derby win. It’s going to be an intensely fought game, but we are going to have our heads up.”

The Pokal final in May rekindled the passion of many Freiburg fans for this competition. Christian Streich, on the other hand, had already been able to experience this tournament multiple times as a youth coach and was already long aware of the magic of the cup. "I'm a total fan of the Pokal anyway, because teams from completely different leagues play against each other, which is great. Every round is super exciting," Streich said. "I sort of knew it: this is going to be a great journey. It was unique, but it didn't really change anything because the competition is just so cool."