Lens-Freiburg is a match valid for the first leg of the play-offs for access to the round of 16 of the Europa League and is played on Thursday at 9 p.m.: TV, probable formations, predictions.
Lens’ Champions League adventure, their first in nearly two decades, is over after the group stage. The Giallorossi, however, can blame themselves for very little: they did better than the better-ranked Sevilla, which finished in last place, and the distance to second-placed PSV Eindhoven at the end was only one point.
If they had managed to get the better of one of the two challenges with the Dutchmen we would probably be talking about something else today but the important thing is to have at least clinched third place, which is crucial to continue the Europa League run. Franck Haise’s men have also started running again in the league: after a disastrous start – the child, probably, of the excellent disposals made in the summer – Lens has managed to recover position after position and is now back in the race for fourth place, barely two lengths away. In Ligue 1, the Giallorossi have bounced back in a big way after the double defeat to Nice and PSG: three wins in a row in the last three days against Toulouse, Nantes and Strasbourg, matches in which the Sang et Or have conceded only one goal against six scored.
Freiburg is not shining
There is therefore a compelling clash looming against Freiburg, which finished second in Europa League Group A behind leaders West Ham (the other teams were Olympiacos and TSC).
Grifo and co. lost only to the Hammers but proved superior to both the Greeks and the lowly Serbs, scoring 12 points in six games. In the Bundesliga, however, things could be much better: the club from the Black Forest city for now has to settle for seventh place and is now cut off from the race for fourth. Of concern are the three consecutive defeats suffered since the end of January (Werder Bremen, Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund), which have highlighted the defensive problems of Christian Streich’s team: in this streak Freiburg has never conceded less than three goals, and among the causes of the bad moment are also injuries. Ginter, Lienhart, Adamu, Kyereh and Schmidt will be absent in Lens.
The prediction
The most confident team is definitely Lens, which in front of its own public almost never makes mistakes. A token can be spent on the Giallorossi in a match where the total number of goals is likely to be between two and four.
Lens-Freiburg likely lineups
LENS (3-4-3): Samba; Gradit, Danso, Medina; Aguilar, Abdul Samed, Diouf, Frankowski; Sotoca, Wahi, Da Costa.
FREIBURG (4-2-3-1): Atubolu; Kubler, Sildillia, Szalai, Makengo; Eggestein, Hofler; Sallai, Holer, Grifo; Gregoritsch.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
