It's like a final before the final. SC Freiburg face a tricky balancing act at the end of the Bundesliga season on Saturday (15:30/Sky). Despite the Europa League final, will the South Baden outfit do everything in their power to secure seventh place and a place in the Conference League with a win against RB Leipzig? Or would Sport-Club rather save their strength for the biggest game in the club's history in Istanbul four days later?
The coach warns
If SC Freiburg fail to win either of their final two games of the season, they could face a year without a European Cup. And yet thoughts of the Istanbul highlight on 20 May are likely to be hard to suppress for the professionals in the game against RB.
"We would be wrong to have our heads elsewhere," warned coach Julian Schuster ahead of the demanding task against third-placed Leipzig. There is also something at stake in the Bundesliga.
If they finish seventh in the table at 5.30 pm on Saturday, Sport-Club will have successfully rounded off their Bundesliga season. But isn't the attraction of this potentially once-in-a-lifetime chance to crown themselves European Cup champions next Wednesday with a coup against Aston Villa much, much greater?