There has been good news from the Freiburg hospital in the past few days. First, Kenneth Schmidt and Manuel Gulde celebrated their comebacks in the friendly in Karlsruhe, then Merlin Röhl also returned to team training this week. “It’s really pleasing how quickly Merlin came back, he seems to have good medicinal meat,” says Julian Schuster. “He had two intensive sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, which he coped with well. We now have to look from day to day.”
Boredom is unlikely to occur in the sports club’s medical department. Eren Dinkci and Noah Atubolu left their national teams early this week due to injuries. While Atubolu is now training with the team again, there are still question marks about whether Dinkci will play on Saturday. “Eren twisted his knee in training. Looking at the pictures, there was more or less the all-clear, but it will still be a close race,” said Schuster. The SC coach names several possible alternatives in Lucas Höler, Michael Gregoritsch, Maximilian Philipp and Florent Muslija.
Strong home team from Dortmund against strong defensive side from Freiburg
It is questionable whether Dinkci will make the trip to the Ruhr area, but more than 5,600 SC fans will definitely be there. They are hoping for Dortmund’s first slip-up in front of their home crowd this season; coach Nuri Sahin’s team has so far scored a maximum of three points in all seven competitive games.
“Their big advantage is the energy that is created in this stadium,” explains Schuster. “That can be transferred to the style of play, especially when it comes to counter-pressing. There are different ways to interrupt this rhythm.” His team found this frequently in recent away games, and the Breisgauers failed to concede a goal in three of the last four away games.
Unimpressed to BVB
Last season, the sports club in Dortmund had to admit defeat 3-0 on Friday evenings, and in the 4-2 home defeat, the Freiburg team were even ahead 2-1 at one point. “I didn’t look at the results,” says Schuster. “I’m only interested in what happens on the training pitch. On Monday there was immediately full energy again. That gives me a good feeling and we’re going to Dortmund with that feeling.”
Even a possible penalty whistle in favor of the SC could not change that. When asked about his players’ recently improved penalty record, at least in the league, Schuster refers to his own performance from the point: “Vince’s rate is still impressive, it’s still better than mine.” As a player, Schuster appeared twice in the league from the point on: While his attempt in league two in the 1-0 win in Wiesbaden against Wehen goalkeeper Alexander Walke in 2009 was still successful, he failed in the 0-0 draw in the Bundesliga season 2014/15 against FC Schalke 04 from the point.
Marius Faller
Photo: SC Freiburg
