Preview: Freiburg vs. Olympiacos - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors, meanwhile, have already been eliminated from the competition, but they can still claim third place and a place in the Europa Conference League as a result.

Match preview

Freiburg's first foray in the Europa League group stage for nine seasons has been an incredibly successful one so far, with Christian Streich's side taking maximum points from four matches to book their place in the knockout stages with two games to spare.

Breisgau-Brasilianer still require two points from their final two games to ensure that they advance in top spot, which would mean bypassing the first knockout round altogether after a recent change to the competition's structure.

As such, there is clearly a huge advantage for teams to finish first as opposed to second, especially for one like Freiburg who are going strong in their domestic league and would benefit from two fewer matches to compete in if possible.

Indeed, after a disappointing 5-0 mauling at the hands of Bayern Munich saw them leapfrogged by the Bavarians into second spot in their previous game, Freiburg cut the deficit to league leaders Union Berlin to only two points with an impressive 2-0 win away to Werder Bremen at the weekend.

Streich will want to maintain momentum against their Greek opponents on Thursday, especially as a win would allow him to rest players in their final match against Qarabag FK, which would essentially become a dead rubber with the Germans' top spot secured.

In stark contrast to their forthcoming opponents, Olympiacos have suffered a disastrous start to the season, resulting in them sacking Carlos Corberan and replacing the former Huddersfield Town manager with Michel last month.

The 59-year-old, who made 66 caps for Spain during his playing career, is in his second managerial spell with the Greek giants, having won two domestic titles with them between 2013 and 2015.

Three defeats from four league games under his tutelage so far represents an improvement on recent form, but they have slipped 10 points behind Panathinaikos already with a fourth successive Greek Super League title looking increasingly unlikely.

Michel's two games in the Europa League have both come against Qarabag, with Olympiacos failing to score a goal on both occasions, although they did manage to pick up their first point in the competition this season with a 0-0 draw in Azerbaijan last time out.

Trailing third-placed Nantes - who they take on at Karaiskakis Stadium next week - by two points, Erythrolefki must win at least one of their final two games if they are to stand a chance of dropping down to the Europa Conference League as opposed to being eliminated from Europe altogether.

Freiburg Europa League form:

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Freiburg form (all competitions):

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Olympiacos Europa League form:

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Olympiacos form (all competitions):

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Team News

Freiburg are likely to be without Manuel Gulde, Kimberly Ezekwem, Jonathan Schmid and Roland Sallai due to injury on Thursday.

Streich may be tempted to rest several key players given that his side's progression to the knockout stages is already assured, especially with an important trip to Gelsenkirchen to face Schalke 04 ahead of them in the Bundesliga on Sunday.

As such, the likes of Lucas Holer, Maximilian Eggestein and Ritsu Doan could be called upon from the start having featured from the bench at the weekend.

Olympiacos, meanwhile, have a host of injury problems to deal with at present, with Tomas Vaclik, Konstantinos Tzolakis, Pape Abou Cisse, Ousseynou Ba and Pajtim Kasami all unlikely to travel to Freiburg.

The likes of Cedric Bakambu and James Rodriguez, who both started in attack in the 2-0 win away to Panetolikos at the weekend, are not registered for the Europa League and therefore Michel will be forced to make some changes.

Freiburg possible starting lineup:

Flekken; Kubler, Lienhart, Schlotterbeck, Gunter; Eggestein, Keitel; Doan, Woo-yeong, Holer; Petersen

Olympiacos possible starting lineup:

Paschalakis; Pipa, Ntoi, Papastathopoulos, Reabciuk; Masouras, M'Vila, Hwang, Biel; Kamara, El Arabi

We say: Freiburg 2-0 Olympiacos

We expect Freiburg to have too much quality for Olympiacos, who are hamstrung by several absences due to injury and squad registration rules.

The hosts are aiming to maintain their 100% record in the Europa League and can seal top spot in Group G with a victory.

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