Gladbach vs. Freiburg preview: Crucial game in battle for European qualification
| Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Image |
Gladbach
Gladbach are sitting in sixth place and two points adrift of the top four after winning 13, drawing five and losing 10 of their 28 Bundesliga matches. Die Fohlen will carry a three-game unbeaten run into Saturday’s fixture after collecting seven points from a possible nine since losing to Mainz on March 7.
They recorded back-to-back wins over Werder Bremen and RB Leipzig, before they missed the chance to claim a third consecutive win in last Sunday’s away game against St. Pauli. Ko Itakura saw his opener cancelled out by Dapo Afolayan’s 85th-minute equaliser, denying Gladbach a fifth consecutive Bundesliga away victory.
Gerardo Seoane’s side will return to Borussia-Park, where they have won seven, drawn two and lost five of their 14 home league games this season. They will hope home advantage can inspire them to their first head-to-head win since recording a 2-1 home victory in April 2021.
Team News
The hosts are unable to call upon the services of Jonas Omlin, Moritz Nicolas, Philipp Sander, Nathan Ngoumou and Niklas Swider.
Freiburg
Freiburg’s top-four hopes have been dented by a drop off in form, which has seen them go five games without a win since recording four consecutive victories in February. They recorded three straight draws, before suffering back-to-back home defeats against Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund. Maximilian Eggestein netted a late consolation in last Saturday’s heavy 4-1 defeat to Dortmund, with the result leaving them in seventh place and four points adrift of the Champions League spots.
Julian Schuster’s side will at least fancy their chances of taking something from Saturday’s fixture, having avoided defeat in each of their last four away outings (W2, D2), keeping three clean sheets in that period. Freiburg will also draw inspiration from the fact they are unbeaten in their last seven meetings with Gladbach, including a 3-1 home win in November’s reverse fixture. In fact, they have scored at least three goals in five of their previous seven head-to-head matches.
Team News
Freiburg are without the injured quartet of Bruno Ogbus, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh and Noah Atubolu, while Matthias Ginter is set to serve a one-match suspension after collecting their fifth yellow card of the season last weekend.
