Eintracht Frankfurt vs SC Freiburg preview: Riera's side looking to continue improved form

Eintracht Frankfurt

Die Adler finally have a glimmer of hope after what has been a brutal season. Eintracht Frankfurt headed into the season with high expectations, but they are out of Europe and currently sit eighth in the Bundesliga. As a result, manager Dino Töppmoller was sacked in mid-January.

Since Albert Riera was hired, form has improved. After drawing Union Berlin, Frankfurt snapped a nine-game winless streak with a 3-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach. Last Saturday, Riera suffered his first defeat in Germany in a 3-2 loss to Bayern Munich despite a late push from Die Adler.

Frankfurt need a win to stay in the race for Europe, and have not lost to Freiburg in the Bundesliga since April 2022.

Team News:

Jonathan Burkardt is available to start. He came off the bench against Bayern in his first appearance since he was sidelined with an injury in November. Robin Koch is also back in training. He missed the Bayern match due to illness.

Michy Batshuayi, Younes Ebnoutalib, Arthur Theate, Rasmus Kristensen, Can Uzun, and Ansgar Knauff all remain sidelined with long-term injuries.

Predicted Lineup: Santos, Collins, Koch, Amenda, Amaimouni-Echghouyab, Larsson, Højlund, Brown, Doan, Bahoya, Burkardt

SC Freiburg

A busy season is finally catching up to Freiburg. Julian Schuster's side have already played five games in February between the Europa League, Bundesliga, and DFB Pokal. Freiburg only won two of those games in 90 minutes: against relegation candidates Werder Bremen and Borussia Mönchengladbach, respectively.

Even Mönchengladbach caused problems for Freiburg, threatening to come back from 2-0 down. Freiburg held on for the 2-1 win, but have struggled to put games away recently.

Freiburg are averaging just one goal per game in 2026. They will need to be efficient going forward against a Frankfurt side with one of the best attacking records in the Bundesliga, but one of the worst defensive ones.

Team News:

Philipp Lienhart and Lukas Kübler are still out with injuries, although both are nearing returns and are back in practice. Daniel-Kofi Kyereh and Max Rosenfelder remain sidelined with long-term injuries.

Jan-Niklas Beste and Johan Manzambi will miss the game due to suspension.

Predicted Lineup: Atubolu, Treu, Ginter, Ogbus, Günter, Eggestein, Osterhage, Scherhant, Suzuki, Grifo, Matanovic