UEFA.com works better on other browsers
For the best possible experience, we recommend using Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge.

Freiburg's fate in their own hands

SC Freiburg must win to be sure of earning a place in the round of 32 as they take on Group H leaders Sevilla FC, with FC Slovan Liberec waiting to pounce if they slip up.

Freiburg celebrate a Group H goal
Freiburg celebrate a Group H goal ©AFP/Getty Images

SC Freiburg have a chance to finish top of UEFA Europa League Group H, though Sevilla FC are safer than they look as they head into their final Group H game.

• Sevilla can finish no lower than second in the section. Freiburg will definitely be through with a win, and would finish top with a victory by a three-goal margin. However, a draw or a loss would leave them vulnerable to being overtaken by FC Slovan Liberec, who are at Estoril Praia on matchday six.

• Freiburg will finish ahead of Liberec if both sides draw or lose.

Previous meetings
• A Diego Perotti penalty and a late flourish from Carlos Bacca secured a 2-0 win for Sevilla when the sides first met on matchday two. It was Freiburg's first encounter with Spanish opponents.

• Sevilla's record in 15 games against German clubs is an excellent W8 D5 L2 (W5 D4 L0 at home – W3 D1 L2 in Germany).

• Juande Ramos's Sevilla eliminated two German teams – 1. FSV Mainz 05 in the first round and FC Schalke 04 in the semi-finals – en route to winning the first of their back-to-back UEFA Cups in 2005/06.

Match background
• Freiburg are without a win in four European home games – a defeat followed by three draws.

• Sevilla are unbeaten in four European away fixtures this season (W3 D1) but have drawn their last three Group H matches (home and away).

• Freiburg are making their maiden appearance in a UEFA competition group stage. Indeed, this is their first outing in Europe since they reached the third round of the 2001/02 UEFA Cup, losing to eventual winners Feyenoord.

• Sevilla have made it to this stage for the sixth time since the advent of the UEFA Cup group stage in 2004/05. They have only once failed to get through to the round of 32, in 2008/09.

Team facts
• Freiburg have received the most red cards in this season's group stage – four – with two of them going to midfielder Karim Guédé, on matchdays one and four.

• Seville is the only city to have two representatives in this season's competition, with neighbours Real Betis Balompié in Group I.

• Sevilla are one of five teams in the group stage who have won this competition before along with Valencia CF (2004), Eintracht Frankfurt (1980), PSV Eindhoven (1978) and fellow two-time winners Tottenham Hotspur FC (1972, 1984). The man who led them to their 2006 and 2007 triumphs, Juande Ramos, is also in this season's group stage as coach of FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

• Sevilla boast German talent in the form of on-loan Chelsea FC man Marko Marin and midfielder Piotr Trochowski, while Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitić was a Schalke player from 2007–10.

• Freiburg midfielder Gelson Fernandes and Sevilla's Daniel Carriço were briefly team-mates at Sporting Clube de Portugal at the start of 2012/13.

Coach information
• A qualified teacher, coach Christian Streich played for Freiburg and their neighbours Freiburger FC as a midfielder, making a brief cameo appearance in the Bundesliga with FC Homburg 08 before moving into coaching. He took charge of Freiburg's youth team in 1995, later combining that role with work as the club's assistant coach before being given sole command in December 2011. He famously cycles to all of Freiburg's home games.

• Sevilla coach since January 2013, Unai Emery started out as a midfielder at Real Sociedad de Fútbol, but was to play the bulk of his career in Spain's second division, switching from playing to coaching at Lorca Deportiva CF after a serious knee injury. Having led UD Almería to the top tier, he coached Valencia CF from 2008 to 2012, with his side regular European contenders during that spell. More recently he had a brief spell at FC Spartak Moskva.

Selected for you