Freiburg are set to benefit from the absence of West Ham United fans when the two sides meet in the Europa League this evening.
That’s according to BILD, who say thanks to a ban for the Hammers faithful, the German side will be setting a new attendance record.
The newspaper explains that when Freiburg meet West Ham in the Europa League group stages this evening, they will set a ‘historic’ attendance record set before kick-off.
34,200 Freiburg fans are expected to attend the game to ‘whip’ Christian Streich’s team forward and that figure will be more than any other game in the club’s history.
The reason for this is the lack of West Ham fans, who were banned from attending by UEFA after throwing objects during the Conference League final. Thus, the Bundesliga club have been allowed to ‘completely fill’ their stadium with their own fans.
That gives them a ‘home advantage XXL’ according to BILD, with Freiburg manager Christian Streich even commenting on the matter before the game in his pre-match press conference and admitting his side have been handed a major plus before kick-off.
“The audience will be there for every duel,” he said.
“Our fans will applaud us and encourage us to move forward. This is a big advantage for us as underdogs. The boys should take that with them and push each other.
“If they had been there and sang beautiful English songs, that would have been nice, but I won’t miss them terribly. Anyone who does something will be punished for it. There are also more seats for our fans. That’s even nicer for us.”
Whether Freiburg can take advantage remains to be seen but the lack of away support is certainly being seen as an advantage and something that could create a ‘goosebumps atmosphere’ ahead of a ‘magical Euro night’ against the Hammers.
