Motherwell FC vs. SC Freiburg Conference League preview: Team news and predicted lineups | OneFootball

SC Freiburg will be the first Bundesliga club to start the season on Thursday as they travel to Scotland in a European clash. Julian Schuster’s side will face Motherwell FC in the first leg of the Europa Conference League qualifying round.

The winners of the tie will enter the league phase stage of the competition. While the Bundesliga representatives reached the Europa League final last term, it’ll be Motherwell's first-ever group stage (league phase) appearance if they win their third continental tie in a month.

Motherwell’s campaign started in the first round with a 5-0 aggregate victory over Faroese side HB Tórshavn. HJK Helsinki gave them a bigger test in the next round, but Ibrahim Said’s second-half goals in the second leg at Fir Park sealed the deal for Alfred Johansson’s side.

Meanwhile, Freiburg ended their pre-season with a comfortable 3-0 win in a 120-minute friendly test against Conference League champions Crystal Palace. Julian Schuster’s side also faced another team that reached the semi-final of this competition last term in back-to-back games with Strasbourg.

While Motherwell already played seven successive games, including four in earlier qualifying rounds, Freiburg’s domestic season will only start on Sunday at Fortuna Düsseldorf, who started their 3. Liga campaign on the wrong foot. Meanwhile, there will only be one Scottish Premiership game this weekend since the SPFL decided to postpone the games of the six clubs in Europe.

It’ll be the second European tie against a club from Germany for Motherwell. The Steelmen were knocked out of the first round UEFA Cup (Europa League) qualifiers by Borussia Dortmund three decades ago. Andreas Möller and Karl-Heinz Riedle (2) scored the goals a couple of years before they helped the Black and Yellows to a European Cup (Champions League) triumph.

Freiburg, who have qualified for the Conference League for the first time after their seventh-placed Bundesliga finish, have never faced a club from Scotland in a competitive fixture until this point.

The Breisgau Brazilians will hope to go further than any Bundesliga club in the competition that started only five years ago. Mainz became the first German side to reach the quarter-finals last time out before their heavy defeat away at Strasbourg.

Team News

Motherwell were knocked out of the Scottish League Cup on Sunday after an extra-time defeat away at newly-promoted Championship club Stenhousemuir FC. Johansson rotated his side with this tie in mind, but he already made four substitutions by the hour mark.

Oscar Priestman and Johnny Koutroumbis will be absent once again as they’re also ruled out of the return leg due to muscular injuries. Tom Sparrow and Seb Palmer-Houlden face a race against time to be fit for Thursday’s showdown.

The visitors have no injury worries for their trip to Lanarkshire. Goalkeeper Mio Backhaus and Erik Engelhardt are expected to make their competitive debuts from the start. Meanwhile, Freiburg’s all-time top-scorer Vincenzo Grifo extended his contract on Wednesday.

Predicted Lineups

Motherwell: Paulsen; Longelo, Girdwood-Reich, Moormann, Ross; Fadinger ©, Whyte; Charles-Cook, Lowry, Said; Maswanhise

Freiburg: Backhaus; Treu, Ginter, Lienhart, Makengo; Eggestein, Engelhardt; Beste, Suzuki, Grifo ©; Matanovic