EUROPA LEAGUE: 1/8 Final SC Freiburg vs Juventus Live Score and Live Stream

Preview: Freiburg vs. Juventus – prediction, team news, lineups

Trailing by a goal from last week’s first leg, Freiburg aim to overturn their deficit and reach the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday, when they host fallen giants Juventus.

Juve are more accustomed to life among Europe’s elite, but having established a lead to take to Germany, they will now try to finish the job in their last-16 tie.

After struggling at times to cope with their illustrious hosts in Turin, Freiburg at least rallied a little towards the end of proceedings and returned to the Black Forest after a 1-0 defeat. 

While Juventus could well have added further to Angel Di Maria’s decisive strike, the Bundesliga side failed to force a single effort on target and recorded only a single off-target effort too.

Such a shortage of potency in the final third continues a concerning trend for Freiburg, who have scored a modest 14 goals in 11 games to start 2023, having spent the first half of the season defying the doubters by keeping pace with Germany’s top-four contenders.

After Ritsu Doan’s 89th-minute finish secured maximum points against Hoffenheim at the weekend, though, Christian Streich’s side still sit fifth in the domestic standings and are well set to guarantee European football for next season. They have also gone 11 games unbeaten at home in the league.

Streich has been in post for 11 years now, and recently extended his contract again. The veteran coach will lead Freiburg into their first home fixture against an Italian team, and what little European history they do have suggests an upset could still be on the cards.

Die Breisgauer have never lost the second leg of a UEFA knockout tie – both winning and drawing twice – and they will have to extend that streak at Europa-Park Stadion if they are to turn a fine campaign into a groundbreaking one by toppling the Old Lady and reaching a continental quarter-final.

Despite only appearing in the Europa League for the first time this season in mid-February, just two players have scored more goals in its 2022-23 edition than Juve’s Di Maria, who followed up a hat-trick against Nantes in the playoff round with last Thursday’s strike at the Allianz Stadium.

Streich was open in his admiration for the World Cup winner after the game, and despite reaching the grand old footballing age of 35, Di Maria is hungry for more silverware; with his side’s slim Scudetto hopes ended by both Napoli’s brilliance and a 15-point penalty, only the cups now offer such an opportunity.

In addition to reaching the Coppa Italia semi-finals, where they meet old rivals Inter next month over two legs, Juventus are targeting glory in the Europa League – and with it, a ticket back to the big-time.

After a haphazard 4-2 win over Sampdoria on Sunday – in which they let a two-goal lead slip in less than two minutes before rallying in the second half – Max Allegri’s men sit seventh in the Serie A standings, some 10 points adrift of the top four with games running out.

As a result, Juve’s best route into the Champions League is by winning Europe’s second-tier tournament in May. With a one-goal lead and having lost just one of their last nine matches against German clubs – winning each of the last three in a row without conceding – they are clear favourites to make the quarter-finals.