It was a fantastic evening of football on Thursday in the Europa League against Olympiacos. SC scored five goals and the players finally managed to clinically convert their goal-scoring opportunities. It was a notably special evening for one man in particular: Michael Gregoritsch scored a hat-trick. These three goals did the striker the world of good: “I really enjoyed it; scoring those goals was really important for me.”

However, he wasn’t the only player to come away from Thursday night full of confidence; this victory gave a boost to the entire team: “The win was important in view of both the upcoming test in Mainz and the weeks to come,” said Gregoritsch. Maximilian Eggestein said: “Europa League nights like these give you a spring in your step.” SCF’s opponents on Saturday have improved after a difficult start to the season; Mainz are unbeaten in four games and have been led by a new coach for the past three games. Since Jan Siewert took over from Bo Svensson, he has picked up five points from three games. However, the 05ers are still sitting in 16th position in the standings.

Things haven’t been going ideally for SC in the league recently, with the team winless in four games. “We’ve not played badly – for example, we put in a good performance in Leipzig – but, we’ve not been rewarded. We’re looking to change that now,” Eggestein explained, hoping for a change in fortunes. However, SC were rewarded with a win against Olympiacos – “We scored some wonderful goals,” Christian Streich said, praising the team’s performance. Three of these goals were scored by Gregoritsch, who hadn’t previously scored since April. The Austrian was consequently very happy understandably, but he was certainly also looking ahead to this Sunday: “We are focused on the Bundesliga and we’ve now got two tough away games coming up. We need to be at 100% from the very start in these games.”

Whilst Merlin Röhl and Roland Sallai were back in action against Olympiacos following their injuries, Ritsu Doan had to receive medical attention straight after the game. “We hope that he’ll be able to take his place in the squad on Sunday again,” Streich explained, turning his attention to the squad’s situation, which has eased up once again following Röhl and Sallai’s returns.”

Photo: Achim Keller