Team news and predicted lineups

Here’s our preview of Thursday’s UEFA Europa Conference League fixture between 1. FC Heidenheim and İstanbul Başakşehir, including our predicted lineups.

Frank Schmidt’s 1. FC Heidenheim enter Thursday’s Conference League clash in Turkey on a five-match losing-streak. The Albogeners have not won a German top flight fixture since the end of December and are currently occupying the relegation-promotion playoff place in the Bundesliga table.

Heidenheim have nevertheless been able to achieve quite a bit of success in this competition, winning their first three fixtures against Olimpija Ljubljana, Pafos FC, and Hearts of Midlothian. Though they ended up losing to English giants Chelsea FC, Schmidt’s crew put in a very respectable showing last round.

The fourth-placed finishers in last year’s Turkish Süper Lig, meanwhile, are looking for their first win of this year’s competition. Çağdaş Atan’s men have still won their last two league fixtures and are actually undefeated at the Fatih Terim ground this season.

Başakşehir’s attack is spearheaded by former Hertha flop Krzysztof Piątek, who has finally found a way to thrive since joining “Boz Baykuşlar” permanently in the summer of 2023. The 29-year-old Polish international netted 17 league goals last season and has notched 17 tallies across all competitions this year. 

FCH trainer Schmidt is known for employing plenty of rotation in his UECL fixtures in addition to specially preparing tactical tweaks for his opponents. It is such that one expects a very different set-up than the one deployed against German record champs Bayern last weekend.

Some expected rotations should see Maximilian Breunig, Norman Theuerkauf, Adrian Beck, Marnon Busch, Leonardo Scienza, and Denis Thomalla enter the XI. Vitus Eicher also looks to stand in goal in place of Kevin Müller. 

Click here to see our predicted lineups.