SC Freiburg vs. Eintracht Frankfurt preview: A top 5 showdown
In the marquee matchup of Matchday 17, Frankfurt travel to the Black Forest to face a reeling Freiburg who lost 6-0 over the weekend.
SC Freiburg
Freiburg hardly looked like the team we saw in the first half of the campaign on Saturday as they were brutally picked apart by Wolfsburg. They looked lost without the creativity of Vincenzo Grifo and the decision to start Manuel Gulde over Philipp Lienhart at the back was a bit of a head scratcher.
But, the club and their supporters aren't known to worry as they return to a sold-out Europa-Park Stadion. Freiburg still sit a comfortable 5th in the table and are itching to secure another year of European football.
In his press conference, the lively Christian Streich shared, "We're good when we have everything. When everyone does everything to the point of total exhaustion. If we don't do that and if we don't do it with full consistency, then we're below average. - The system doesn't win games. The behavior wins games."
Team News
Grifo is likely to be in the squad following an illness, but a place in the starting 11 is up in the air. Roland Sallai is still out due to injury and Lienhart is expected to return to his place alongside Matthias Ginter in defense.
Eintracht Frankfurt
Frankfurt hummed past Schalke 3-0 on Saturday and have now moved up to 3rd in the standings. It doesn't look like the creative three-headed attack of Lindstrøm, Götze and Kolo Muani is slowing down anytime soon.
However, Eintracht did receive some bad news over the weekend as the versatile Junior Dina Ebimbe was ruled out for 8-10 weeks. Expect Aurelio Buta, who put away his first Bundesliga goal on Matchday 16, to slot in and pick up the pace.
Trainer Oliver Glasner stated, “Freiburg have a very good team who have grown together and represent continuity. As one of the most experienced Bundesliga coaches, Streich won’t be thrown off course by the 6-0 defeat to Wolfsburg.”
Team News
Tuta has a chance of returning to the starting lineup, while Randal Kolo Muani will play after recovering from an illness. Junior Dina Ebimbe, Luca Pellegrini and Marcel Wenig are unavailable.