Preview: Freiburg vs Celta Vigo – prediction, team news, lineups

Bundesliga club Freiburg will welcome La Liga outfit Celta Vigo to the Europa-Park Stadion for Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg. 

The side that prevails over the two legs will go on to face Braga or Real Betis in the semi-finals. 

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Match preview

Having successfully navigated their way to the Europa League quarter-finals, Freiburg are dreaming of going all the way to win their first-ever major trophy in May’s final in Istanbul.

The German outfit advanced straight to the last 16 after securing a top-eight spot in the league phase with a return of five wins, two draws and one defeat in eight matches.

They then turned around a narrow 1-0 deficit in last month’s tie against Genk, pulling off an impressive 5-1 victory at the Europa-Park Stadion to reach a European quarter-final for the first time in their history.

The Breisgau-Brasilianer are now preparing to face Spanish opposition in European competition for the first time since losing 2-0 home and away to Sevilla in the 2013-14 Europa League group stage.

Freiburg will head into Thursday’s first leg on the back of a frustrating 3-2 defeat to Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich, who scored two stoppage-time goals as they fought back from two goals down to condemn Julian Schuster‘s side to back-to-back home defeats.

While they have experienced disappointment in their last two home games in the league, Freiburg can take confidence from the fact they have won each of their previous nine European outings at Europa-Park Stadion since losing 2-1 to West Ham United in the 2023-24 group stage. 

Celta Vigo, meanwhile, are hoping to follow in the footsteps of Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Valencia and Villarreal by becoming the sixth different Spanish team to win the Europa League/UEFA Cup.

In contrast to Freiburg, the Galician side had to go through the knockout phase playoffs after finishing in 16th spot in the league phase. 

Celta saw off PAOK of Greece by a 3-1 aggregate scoreline, before they eliminated league phase winners Lyon in the round of 16.

After playing out a 1-1 draw in Balaidos, Celta took full advantage of Moussa Niakhate’s early red card to claim a 2-0 victory in France, thanks to goals from Javi Rueda and Ferran Jutgla.

Claudio Giraldez‘s charges will head to Freiburg in high spirits after coming from behind to pull off a 3-2 victory in Sunday’s away league clash with Valencia, leaving them in sixth place and just a point behind Real Betis in fifth position, which is likely to become a Champions League qualification spot.

With Celta eyeing their first Europa League semi-final in nine years, they will be hoping to claim a positive result on Thursday ahead of next week’s return leg, but that will be easier said than done for a club that has lost two of their previous three UEFA matches in Germany (D1).

Freiburg Europa League form:

D W W L L W 

Freiburg form (all competitions):

D L L W W L 

Celta Vigo Europa League form:

W D W W D W

Celta Vigo form (all competitions):

L D D W L W

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Team News

Freiburg remain without the injured Max Rosenfelder, while Jordy Makengo and Patrick Osterhage are both doubts after sitting out the recent clash with Bayern.

The medical team will also have to assess forward Lucas Holer, who appeared to pick up an injury in the latter stages of Saturday’s defeat. 

Vincenzo Grifo and Igor Matanovic should come back into the side after dropping down to the bench at the weekend.

As for Celta Vigo, Miguel Roman remains sidelined through injury, while Javi Rueda is suspended for an accumulation of yellow cards. 

There are also major doubts surrounding the availability of Carl Starfelt, Mihailo Ristic, Matias Vecino and club legend Iago Aspas.

Hugo Alvarez is also at risk of missing Thursday’s fixture after being forced off at half time against Valencia due to an ankle issue. 

Freiburg possible starting lineup:

Atubolu; Treu, Ginter, Lienhart, Gunter; Eggestein, Manzambi; Beste, Suzuki, Grifo; Matanovic

Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:

Radu; Rodriguez, Aidoo, Alonso; Mingueza, Sotelo, Moriba; Carreira; Lopez, Swedberg, Iglesias

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We say: Freiburg 2-2 Celta Vigo

Freiburg have won each of their previous nine European home games, but they are set to face a Celta side that have avoided defeat in each of their last eight competitive away matches.

With that in mind, we think the visitors will do enough to leave Germany with a draw to show for their efforts. 

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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