After victory in the Europa League, Sunday is all about finally winning a Bundesliga game again for SC. It’s been a while since their last one, at home to Hoffenheim in Mid-January. This has been followed by two draws and four defeats. “We want to finally win in the Bundesliga again,” said captain Christian Günter after the narrow, but deserved, home win over West Ham United.

Günter and Matthias Ginter were in agreement that Freiburg needed to “recover well” after their intense match in the Europa League. Thankfully, there are more options in the squad again after various injury lay-offs. “More and more players are coming back,” Günter also noted, while he himself is now ready for 90 minutes again after a long period out. “That’s important for us,” he continued. “The lads who are coming off the bench are doing really well.” An example of this from the game against West Ham is Michael Gregoritsch, who came on in the 70th minute, had his first chance in the 73rd, and scored the winning goal in the 81st minute. He went straight in to help his teammates without needing any time to settle into the game.

Courage at Castroper Straße

SCF go into the game against Bochum buoyed by their results from the last two games. They can expect their opponents to work, work, work. There is no other way to describe VfL’s style of play. Head coach Thomas Letsch’s side have contested the most individual battles in the division, while SC have contested the least. This has though resulted in Bochum also picking up the most yellow cards, and they will also have to replace Moritz Kwarteng on Sunday after his red card last weekend. One thing that Freiburg have done well in the last two games will be important again at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion. “We have to be aggressive in the individual battles and work very hard off the ball,” said Günter. Similarly, Matthias Ginter thinks “it’ll be a tough game for us.”

This is especially because Bochum are still stuck in the relegation battle, a situation they will be desperate to get out of as soon as possible. The year had started well with three wins, including a shock victory over Bayern, three draws and just one defeat. Successive defeats have though seen VfL drop to 15th with 25 points and brought them crashing straight back down to Earth. However, “Bochum are extremely strong at home,” said Ginter. Bochum have lost just two of their 12 home games at Castroper Straße this season.

Particularly in the last two games against Bayern and West Ham, the team have shown the courage with which they’ve approached these matches. Günter is hoping that his side demonstrate more of this quality, together with their impressive mentality, in the away game in the Ruhr area. “We have to be brave on the ball again. Then, anything is possible.”

Photo: Achim Keller