SC Freiburg 0-0 West Ham – Europa League: Live score, team news, and updates as Jarrod Bowen misses the Hammers’ best chance of tense first half

All square at the interval and really it’s Freiburg who will feel the most hard done by after Höler’s miss from close-range.

The Hammers have grown into the game but have struggled to click in attack while Paqueta has largely been limited in his ability to get on the ball and play forward.

A draw wouldn’t be a bad result for the visitors tonight with the second leg in London still to come.

West Ham are on top – just – as they begin to dominate possession and try to break forward. Freiburg are being pulled apart slightly as Sildillia is shown the first yellow card of the night for pulling back Alvarez.

More from Mail Sport’s Kathryn Batte in Germany on Bowen’s chance just moments ago. He really should have done better with the chance!

‘Two big chances for each team. Lucas Holer can only fire straight at Fabianski at one end before Kudus picks out Bowen at the back-post, but the forward scuffs his shot.

‘Bring back the old boots!’

Now it’s West Ham’s turn to attack as a cross deep to the back-post finds Bowen but the Englishman skews his effort. This game has finally began to open up!

Great chance for Freiburg as they carve West Ham’s defence open and Lucas Höler is through on goal but strikes his effort on the volley into the arms of Fabianski. Let off for the Hammers and David Moyes lets his side know that is not good enough.

Lucas Paqueta doesn’t appear happy with the referee after a few questionable challenges in the last few minutes.

Mail Sport’s Kathryn Batte in Germany: ‘Lucas Paqueta is just having a word with the referee because he feels he’s not been getting the free-kicks he deserves.

‘He was the key man the last time these two teams played here and Freiburg appear to be doubling up on him every time he gets the ball – a tactic that is working so far.’

It’s a quick boot change for Bowen as he swaps over in the dugout and he did appear to blame his footwear when he scuffed a shot earlier in the match.

Mail Sport’s Kathryn Batte is in Germany: ‘Not much for either team to get excited about in the first 20 minutes.

‘A long range strike from Jarrod Bowen is the closest West Ham have come to opening the scoring but nothing to trouble Noah Atubolu in the Freiburg goal.

‘Jarrod Bowen is changing his boots here – maybe that will change the game around!’

This game is like a chess match so far with each team taking it in turns to have the ball as they probe for an opener. Nobody wants to commit too many bodies forward but you get a sense that a goal is going to come soon.

West Ham finally find space in Freiburg’s half as Bowen bursts down the left, gets his opposition fullback one-v-one and chooses to shoot from a tight angle.

Kudus was free for a tap-in if he had crossed and Bowen points to his boot after his miss.

That is some header by Lawrence to give Rangers the lead against Benfica as he holds his run to pop up in the box and finish cutely into the bottom corner.

Rangers are ahead in Portugal as Tom Lawrence gives the Scottish Premiership leaders an early goal! What a huge shock that would be if they can head back to the Ibrox with any type of advantage.

Kudus is used to sprinting forward but is having to do the majority of his running so far tonight back towards his own goal.

Freiburg are switching play almost every time they get the ball and the Hammers winger isn’t shying away from his defensive duties.

West Ham have settled after that opening minute scare but are struggling to get a touch of the ball as the hosts confidently move through the gears.

Just a quick reminder that Freiburg are amongst the top scorers in the Europa League this season.

Mail Sport’s Kathryn Batte is at the Europa-Park Stadion and has been touching on the incredible noise being generated by both sets of fans.

A proper European atmosphere under the lights!

Incredible atmosphere here in the Europa-Park Stadion, with Freiburg’s fans in fine voice. West Ham supporters couldn’t attend the fixture here during the group stage but there’s 2,230 of them here tonight.

Doing a decent job of competing with the noise coming from the home end.

It’s a chance straight from kick off as the hosts force Coufal into a vital challenge in his box. Nervy start from West Ham.

We are underway in Germany as the Hammers get the ball rolling!

Remember we will also be providing you with key updates from Benfica v Rangers and AC Milan v Slavia Prague.

We are just moments away from kick off as the players clap hands on the pitch while the Europa League anthem echoes around the ground, it’s hard to hear the iconic tune though because the home support have got this place absolutely rocking!

MIchael Owen knows a thing or two about scoring goals and he has been gushing over West Ham’s attack before kick off.

The former Liverpool goalscorer has labelled the Hammers’ frontline as one of the best in England and he probably isn’t wrong!

Speaking on TNT Sport, Owen said: ‘He’s [Paqueta] an exceptional player, he raises the quality of the team and everybody else.

They have an unbelievable attack, Kudus, Bowen and Paqueta, not many better in the Premier League!’

West Ham players were clapping their travelling fans who have made the midweek trip to Germany with the club selling out their full allocation of 2,230 tickets. That is some effort!

While the good vibes might not always be present at the London Stadium in the Premier League this season, trips to Europe have usually faired well under David Moyes and another win tonight will give them hope of going deep into the competition!

You have to feel for Kalvin Phillips, at least a little bit, because his career that was meant to be reignited by a loan move to West Ham continues to stall.

The England international is named amongst the Hammers subs tonight – a position he was all too familiar with at Man City – and has struggled to get going at his new club.

Red cards and a lack of match fitness haven’t helped his cause but after winning the Champions League last season, tonight is exactly the type of game he was brought in for! If he is picked to come off the bench then he will be desperate to prove himself!

It might have been a double defeat against West Ham earlier this season but tonight’s hosts are in a good run of form having only lost one of their last five games.

Most recently was a 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich at the weekend, and despite Thomas Tuchel’s side enduring one of their worst seasons in recent memory, it was still a decent result.

Freiburg are bang on mid-table in the Bundesliga and have the resources to hurt West Ham tonight but will be wary of the attacking dangers they are up against.

And here’s how the hosts line up for tonight as they name four changes from the team that lost to West Ham last time out in the group stage.

Here’s how the Hammers shape up for tonight with Lucas Paqueta who scored in West Ham’s last trip to Freiburg.

We are just over an hour away from kick off and Freiburg have been testing their floodlights in the ground for what I expect will be some sort of pre-match lightshow that is becoming an ever-present feature at games around Europe.

Team news is coming up shortly.

It’s a rare occurrence that a team you face in the group stage is your opponent in the round of 16, but that’s the situation West Ham find themselves in and fans will probably be happy with that!

David Moyes hasn’t been able to celebrate too many victories at times during this season, but earned success in their previous two appearances against Freiburg, a 2-0 home win and 2-1 away victory.

The odds are ramped up in knockout football but all previous signs give reasons to Hammers fans to be optimistic tonight.

West Ham supporters will be familiar with this ground – probably because they’ve been to it twice already this season – and enjoyed previous sucess on their last trip to Freiburg’s stadium.

There are a few different names for the 34,700 seater stadium located in the south of Germany with West Ham labelling it as the Stadion am Wolfswinkel and home supporters referring to it as the Dreisamstadion.

Whatever you call it, the ground is a farcry from West Ham’s aptly named London Stadium.

Good evening and thanks for joining us for tonight’s coverage of West Ham’s trip to Freiburg in the Europa League knockout stages. Kick off is at 8pm and we have plenty to cover before then!

We’ll also be bringing you key updates from Benfica v Rangers and AC Milan v Slavia Prague.