1. FSV Mainz 05 vs. RC Strasbourg Alsace Conference League preview: Team news and predicted lineups
· Yahoo Sports
Mainz entertain Strasbourg in the first-leg of the Europa Conference League quarter-final tie on Thursday. The two teams drew goalless in a friendly match before the season started in August 2025.
However, this will be the first competitive fixture between two clubs only separated by around 200 kilometers. Strasbourg are unbeaten in this competition, while Mainz have won all four games at home.
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Urs Fischer’s side have also climbed to the top half of the Bundesliga table after winning three consecutive games for the second time in 2026. The Swiss coach has completely changed their fortunes as there is now a possibility of qualifying for Europe for a team languishing in the bottom place for a couple of months prior to the appointment.
Mainz’s latest wins came against two teams higher than them in the standings, with 2-1 victories over Eintracht Frankfurt and TSG Hoffenheim. Strasbourg have also won their previous two games in Ligue 1 against relegation-threatened rivals Nantes and Nice.
Gary O'Neil’s side will face the latter in the Coupe de France semi-final in two weeks. The gap between them and a potential Champions League spot is only six points in Ligue 1, although qualifying for a competition Chelsea would take part in will create complications because of the multi-club ownership structure.
Back to the 05ers, this is the first time they qualified for the knockout stages of European competition. They were in the same Europa League group with Saint-Étienne a decade ago, with both head-to-head games ending in stalemates.
Team News
Silas and Benedict Hollerbach are unavailable due to serious injuries, while fellow attacker Sheraldo Becker is not registered in Mainz’s European squad. Top-scorer Nadiem Amiri is still a doubt as he missed the last seven games with a heel injury.
Strasbourg’s talisman Joaquín Panichelli saw his season cut short with an ACL injury, but the controversial captain Emmanuel Emegha featured in the 3-1 win over Nice after recovering from his long-term injury.
Predicted Lineups
Mainz: Batz; da Costa, Posch, Kohr; Widmer ©, Sano, Mwene; Nebel, Lee; Weiper, Tietz
Strasbourg: Penders; Doue, Omobamidele, Doukoure ©, Chilwell; El Mourabet, Barco; Yassine, Nanasi, Godo; Enciso