Summarize this content to 100 words: Fighting to keep their Europa League dreams alive, struggling Lille welcome high-flying Freiburg to Decathlon Arena in the League Phase on Thursday night.Les Dogues suffered their heaviest defeat of the campaign on the weekend, whilst Breisgau-Brasilianer picked up a much-needed home success in the Bundesliga.Match previewAfter winning consecutive matches to conclude a productive 2025 schedule, Lille have commenced 2026 with a whimper, losing five straight contests across Ligue 1, Coupe de France and Europa League action.
Les Dogues’ most worrying result of the horrid bunch arrived on Sunday afternoon at Decathlon Arena, where a 93rd-minute consolation from Matias Fernandez-Pardo did little to hide the shock of a 4-1 defeat to Liam Rosenior-less Strasbourg.Lille’s awful run of results also includes a Europa League loss at Celta Vigo on matchday seven, which leaves them languishing in 21st spot in the League Phase rankings, with only three points on Thursday good enough to guarantee a spot in the knockout stages.Following triumph in each of their last five home matches of 2025, Bruno Genesio’s troops have lost three consecutive matches at Decathlon Arena in 2026 by an aggregate scoreline of 8-2, hardly striking confidence into the hosts ahead of this week’s continental encounter.It is fair to say that Lille have dearly missed the attacking talents of marksman Hamza Igamane over the past week, with the striker scoring four Europa League goals in five contests before sustaining a season-ending knee injury.© Imago / dts Nachrichtenagentur
On a mission to secure their first-ever major honour this season in the form of a Europa League trophy, Freiburg arrive at Decathlon Arena in good form, losing just one of their last eight games across all competitions.
Since sharing the spoils at Bayern Munich-conquering Augsburg on January 18, Breisgau-Brasilianer have recorded back-to-back victories, both at their Europa-Park Stadion base at the expense of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Koln.Looking to secure three straight competitive wins for the first time since late September, Julian Schuster’s side are sitting third in the League Phase standings, three points ahead of Porto in ninth ahead of the final matchday.Alongside Hungarian giants Ferencvaros, Freiburg are one of only two teams who are yet to taste defeat in the League Phase from a cohort of 36, with the Bundesliga outfit conceding only three goals across seven continental contests to date.Whilst his defenders hold the fort at the back end of the pitch, veteran attacker Vincenzo Grifo is doing the business at the other end, with the 32-year-old already matching his tally of 10 goals from last season in all competitions.Lille Europa League form:W L L W L LLille form (all competitions):W L L L L LFreiburg Europa League form:D W W D W WFreiburg form (all competitions):W W L D W WTeam News© Imago
Lille remain without the services of Thomas Meunier, with the full-back expected back in late February from a hamstring injury.Les Dogues’ options in the middle of the park are reduced by the absence of Nabil Bentaleb, who suffered a dislocated shoulder last week.In a crushing blow to the trophy hopes of Lille this term, four-goal Europa League striker Igamane is sidelined for the remainder of the campaign owing to a serious knee injury.Approaching the 250-game mark for Freiburg, stalwart Lukas Kubler is currently in the medical room because of a hamstring strain.With a spot in the top eight all-but secured, Breisgau-Brasilianer will not rush the likes of Philipp Lienhart (abdominal) and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh back into the first-team fold this week.Lille possible starting lineup:Ozer; Santos, Ngoy, Ribeiro, Perraud; Broholm, Mukau, Mandi, Correia; Haraldsson, GiroudFreiburg possible starting lineup:Atubolu; Treu, Ginter, Rosenfelder, Gunter; Eggestein, Osterhage, Beste, Suzuki, Scherhant; Matanovic
We say: Lille 2-1 Freiburg
Requiring a victory to guarantee a spot in the knockout stages, Lille should realise the importance of the situation and perform accordingly on Thursday night.Freiburg will want to maintain their unbeaten status but are likely to lose out to Les Dogues, who are in desperate need of victory for the first time in 2026.For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
