Let’s take a look back to a cold autumn night in Osnabrück, where 11,500 home fans are still loudly cheering on their team at the Bremer Brücke, even in the 120th minute. Up until the 97th minute, SCF looked set to win the match, but now, they are on the brink of being knocked out. In what will be the final chance of the match, Lucas Höler finds Keven Schlotterbeck inside the box, as he heads in to send the game to penalties. Thanks to a strong performance from goalkeeper Benjamin Uphoff, Freiburg will end the evening victorious.

Nearly three months later, SCF will be back in action in the DFB-Pokal, as they face TSG Hoffenheim in the round of 16. While the atmosphere in the stands likely won’t be as raucous, with only 500 fans being allowed in to the PreZero Arena due to the Coronavirus measures in place, SCF will be hoping to win this all-Bundesliga battle and move on to the next round. “Hoffenheim are a tough obstacle to overcome, but if we want to reach the quarterfinals, then we will need to beat them,” Christian Streich said about the upcoming opponent.

It won’t be easy, against one of the league’s best home sides and one that has lost just one of their previous 10 matches in Sinsheim this season. “We are up against strong opponents, who are very in sync. I hope that we put on the right performance against them tomorrow. They are strong on the ball, and we will need to watch and wait to see when is the right moment for us to press,” Streich said.

Both teams will be looking to bounce back from disappointing defeats on the weekend. While TSG were unlucky to lose 2-1 at Union Berlin, SCF were heavily beaten 5-1 by Dortmund. “We were disappointed with our performance,” a frustrated Streich said. “We weren’t strong enough on the ball, didn’t close down the spaces out of possession and weren’t good enough in the challenges.” However, the Bundesliga’s longest-serving head coach is confident that his side will “deliver a difference performance to the one against Dortmund” on Wednesday.

The two sides have met just once before in the DFB-Pokal. In 2008, SCF overturned a 1-0 deficit at half-time to win 3-1 in the second round. They will also be able to draw confidence from their most recent meeting with TSG nearly a month ago, when Sebastian Hoeneß’ side were able to celebrate a 2-1 win in Freiburg thanks to a controversial late winner.

SC will be able to welcome a few players back to the squad this week. Nico Schlotterbeck and Mark Flekken will return after having recovered from Covid-19, but it remains to be seen whether they will start. Keven Schlotterbeck will not travel to the game after recovering from a stomach flu, and will remain in Freiburg to continue training.

Photo: Achim Keller