Europa League Final Preview: SC Freiburg vs Aston Villa – Are we the Bad Guys?
After 44 years, Aston Villa have reached a major European Final again, like the last time they will be the designated away side against German opposition, this time in the form of SC Freiburg. So, who is this team that other German fans have a soft spot for?
The Good
One word to describe SC Freiburg is authentic. They are the pipe dream of the traditional Football fan.
This is largely due to the club’s rejection of commercialism and connection with its local area. Considering the Bundesliga operates on the 50+1% fan ownership model, Freiburg take it further, operating as a member-owned club where supporters hold 100% of the control. Along with Mainz, Union Berlin and Schalke, they are the only examples of this in the top divisions.
Weekly merch drops and arguments over PSR are an alien concept to the South German side, whose relaxed surroundings live in an eco-conscious city with the Black Forest as scenery.
They are the antithesis of modern, money-driven football, and this is why their fanbase is growing in Germany. 80 official fan clubs and 4 ultra groups drive engagement while not forgetting their roots. With the city being one of the main research centres for cochlear implants, SC Freiburg players were among the first to present their official sign language names to aid inclusion.
Vincent Kompany, Bayern Munich manager, said, ‘Everything about Freiburg is positive. A small club that builds everything from its own resources. They have a philosophy, a vision.’
Ex-manager Christian Streich summed up the Freiburg philosophy in comments before a game against Bayern in 2023.
“The pressure on coaches is immense. But the pressure in society is immense. And because we are always on TV and because many people still love football, even though there are things in football that are catastrophic. Disastrous. But that goes hand in hand with society as a whole. The pressure is enormous.
Ask, if I may say so, the people who are responsible for cleanliness in hotels and clean the rooms. Ask them how much time they have to clean how many rooms. Everything is individualised. There are hardly any chains of connections in many areas of life. By chain of connections I mean in the past, hotels were often family-run. People you knew worked there. From the village, from the city. You knew them. There were connections. Over decades, through families. It’s all different now. We live in a world of big corporations. We have major issues. We always talk about the middle class. Small and medium-sized companies are having an incredibly hard time. Yet it is that middle class that has brought us this incredible prosperity and wealth. And not the big corporations. They are the ones who ruin it. They destroy prosperity. They have become independent. And in football, you can see that directly, so to speak.”
Their lack of pay-to-win mechanics means Freiburg promote from within, and there is a clear path from the youth teams to the senior side. The same is true with their managers, who are given time to implement their style.
41-year-old Julian Schuster is the current manager, an ex-player with over 200 appearances. He took over from Christian Streich, who had been in charge from 2011 to 2024, and was considered a legend, as was his predecessor Volker Finke, who was in charge for 16 years. Schuster led them to 5th place in his first full season to qualify for the Europa League.
Schuster’s ascension into the top job and Freiburg are what the original vision of Aston Villa was to be when Dean Smith was in charge, a fan at the helm, a fan as Captain in Jack Grealish, making them something different from the other clubs in the league. Alas, the pressures of success in the Premier League meant Villa couldn’t afford to take the patient approach Freiburg always has, yet here they meet at the same point, a European final.
The Bad
The bad news for Aston Villa is that SC Freiburg seem perfectly set up to frustrate Emery’s men tactically.
Mirroring Villa’s favoured 4-2-3-1 setup, Freiburg restrict space in the middle and force their opponents out wide as a defensive rule.
This generally keeps them to lower quality chances, which is borne out in the stats showing them as being the 4th best team in the league for xg against. Meaning if Villa get bogged down in the middle of the pitch and cannot play through Freiburg, a lot will depend on width, which has been a weakness for Emery’s side this season.
Despite their structured defence bearing fruit, Freiburg’s remaining metrics are very much middle of the table, and they tend to struggle away from home with a +8 Goal difference at home compared to -17 away.
Luckily, the final is in Istanbul.
Work rate is vital for all players as Freiburg get back in shape and look to limit transitions leading to a lot of pointless possession for opponents, a criticism that has been levelled at Aston Villa recently.
When they press the opposition high, it is less aggressive and more targeted, another issue Villa have had trouble dealing with, when the defence has the ball but the midfielders are pressed directly. They lay traps and look to exploit. Usually with academy graduate Johan Manzambi involved in a high-energy role all across the midfield.
In attack, they are good from set pieces, with around 40% of their goals coming from them and mostly from the delivery of Vincenzo Grifo, the 33-year-old Italian winger, who has 7 goals and 5 assists in the Bundesliga this season.
Veteran defender Matthias Ginter, along with centre back partner Philipp Lienhart, wins a lot of aerial balls, as does striker Igor Matanovic, who is a physical presence, scoring 10 goals in the league and winning over half of his aerial duels.
Check out the latest MOMS podcast episode focusing on SC Freiburg
The Ugly
The ugly truth for Aston Villa is that they face a motivated, one-for-all team in the final in Freiburg. There are no stars, and 10 out of the starting line-up against Braga in the semi-final have been at the club for multiple seasons.
While the story of John McGinn and Tyrone Mings rise from the Championship to the Europa League Final is cause for admiration, Freiburg have a squad of players with the same motivation and equally compelling stories who will give everything in an effort to get Freiburg’s first ever major honour.
Many have been too quick to dismiss the mid-table Germans as bridesmaids at this final, but you would expect Unai Emery to treat them with the tactical respect they have earned in Germany and in this competition. Even with this, victory won’t be easy against a team who are greater than the sum of its parts.
The whole of Germany and most football hipsters will be behind the underdogs, Freiburg.
The rest of us will hope that nice guys do indeed finish last and the Villans can end the barren trophyless years to give some of these players the send-off in a Villa shirt their efforts deserve.
It’s time to bring some silverware home.
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