SC Freiburg is between the chance of a final in the European Cup and a tricky duel with a relegation candidate in the Bundesliga. What should Julian Schuster do? How did other coaches do it?
There are now only two weddings left for SC Freiburg to attend. They would have really liked to have had the one additional game in the DFB Cup in Breisgau, because it would have been the final in Berlin against FC Bayern Munich.
But Julian Schuster’s team narrowly failed in the semi-finals at VfB Stuttgart after a grueling game lasting 120 minutes.
With the prospect of probably facing the biggest games in the club’s history, the coach drew his conclusions. He didn’t even take some of his regular players with him to Dortmund for the Bundesliga duel. They should rest for the first leg of the Europa League semi-final, which SC lost 2-1 at Sporting Braga on Thursday.
Historic opportunity
The second leg in Freiburg is next Thursday and because it is a historic chance to reach the final, the Bundesliga could be behind again.
However, the overall situation is a little different this time. Even before SCF’s guest appearance, Borussia Dortmund was almost certain to be in the Champions League and probably couldn’t be pushed out of second place. The Freiburgers also have a catastrophic record in Dortmund. Even with the best eleven, this happened to them more often in the past, which also happened on matchday 30. They lost 4-0 to BVB.
On the 32nd matchday, SC Freiburg hosts an opponent who is concerned about staying in the league. After four points from the last two games, VfL Wolfsburg has moved to just one point behind FC St. Pauli, but is still in a direct relegation zone.
St. Pauli will play against 1. FSV Mainz 05 on Sunday (May 3rd, 2026) from 3:30 p.m. and will later take a closer look at how and with which personnel SC Freiburg approaches the duel against Wolfsburg.
It’s not the case that the SCF can tick off the Bundesliga, because it’s about qualifying again for the Europa League or the Conference League. However, when will the opportunity to reach a European Cup final come again? Once that was done, Freiburg would be up against it Nottingham Forest or Aston Villa. The Bundesliga team would be underdogs against the team from Birmingham, but not a big one either. Winning the Europa League seems possible and would mean qualifying for the Champions League for the first time.
Second suit against Wolfsburg?
The European Cup should be SC Freiburg’s priority, and since, unlike FC Bayern, for example, it does not have a squad that is put together for the constant dance at three weddings, coach Schuster could again rely on the second guard, the second suit, a B-eleven or whatever it may be called in the Bundesliga.
This could upset St. Pauli, and probably also many other fans who would like to see the less attractive VfL Wolfsburg disappear into the 2nd Bundesliga.
Does a B-Elf necessarily have to be worse?
But does a so-called B-Elf necessarily have no chance, perhaps even distort the competition? Or can it even be an advantage to bring in fresh players who are not thinking about Braga again because they will then be on the bench again anyway?
A general historical comparison has its weaknesses, because it always depends on the depth of the squad, the situation in the table, the number of injuries and suspensions.
But it’s worth taking a look at the recent past, because in recent years it has happened more often that teams from the Bundesliga were represented in the semi-finals of a European Cup at the end of April/beginning of May.
5-1 win despite a lot of rotation
In the 2022/23 and 2023/2024 seasons there were even identical duels between AS Roma and Bayer Leverkusen. In May 2023, Leverkusen’s coach Xabi Alonso faced a similar question to Freiburg’s Schuster after the 1-0 defeat in Rome, because Bundesliga opponents VfB Stuttgart were deep in the relegation mire. He changed his starting eleven to four positions, including taking out Robert Andrich and Florian Wirtz. Nevertheless, Leverkusen, who were sixth in the table at the time, still got a point in a 1-1 draw.
A year later, Leverkusen were already German champions after a 2-0 first leg win in Rome when they went to Eintracht Frankfurt. Alonso brought in eight new players, but his team still won 5-1 in the Waldstadion.
Two years earlier, Eintracht was in the semi-finals of the Europa League, like another Bundesliga team, RB Leipzig. Frankfurt won the first leg West Ham United with 2-1, In the Bundesliga they were in the middle of the table with no ambitions for the top and fear of relegation. Coach Oliver Glasner made eight changes for the game at Bayer Leverkusen. The Werkself won 2-0 and came a good step closer to qualifying for the Champions League.
Glasner’s a wedding
Leipzig, however, suffered a setback. After the 1-0 first leg win against the Glasgow Rangers His team changed to five positions and lost 3-1 to midfield Borussia Mönchengladbach.
With the same result, the second leg was lost at Rangers, who were again defeated in the final after a penalty shootout against Eintracht Frankfurt. Eintracht won a European Cup and finished 15th in the second half of the Bundesliga. It may be worth focusing on dancing at a wedding.
