Freiburg vs. Bayer Leverkusen preview: Die Werkself buoyed from their European exploits
Bayer Leverkusen will turn their focus to Sunday’s league meeting with Freiburg after producing a comeback win in Thursday’s Europa League clash with Qarabag.
Freiburg
In contrast to Sunday’s opponents, Freiburg saw their European journey come to a disappointing end in their midweek trip to the English capital. They went into the second leg of their last-16 tie with a slender advantage after Michael Gregoritsch had netted a late winner in the home leg. Unfortunately for Freiburg, a determined West Ham side turn required just nine minutes to restore parity in the tie, before Jarrod Bowen found the net to give the Hammers an aggregate lead. David Moyes’s side went on to rack up three more goals in the second period to condemn the Breisgau-Brasilian to a heavy 5-1 aggregate defeat.
Freiburg will now turn their attention back to league action, and with seven points separating them from the top six, they have their work cut out to return to European competition next season. Christian Streich’s side may be holding out hope that Leverkusen can win the Pokal, which would open up another European spot in the Bundesliga.
Their current priority will be on Sunday’s tricky contest, where they will attempt to become the first team to beat Leverkusen in a competitive game this season. They may at least fancy their chances of taking a point after losing just one of their previous 10 home league matches.
Team News
The hosts are expected to be without Noah Weißhaupt, Kenneth Schmidt, Max Rosenfelder and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh, while Maximilian Philipp and Manuel Gulde are both doubts. As for Maximilian Eggestein, he will serve a one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.
Bayer Leverkusen
A week after fighting back from two goals down to draw with Qarabag, Leverkusen produced another impressive comeback in Thursday’s second leg at the BayArena. Abdellah Zoubir gave Qarabag the lead in the 57th minute before Elvin Cafarquliyev was given his marching orders to leave die Werkself with a numerical advantage.
Undeterred, Qarabag quickly doubled their advantage through Juninho, leaving Leverkusen on the brink of a last-16 exit and their first defeat of the season. However, Xabi Alonso’s troops ultimately showed great fight to gain a foothold with Jeremie Frimpong’s 72nd-minute strike, before Patrik Schick netted two stoppage-time goals to set up a quarter-final tie against Freiburg’s conquerors West Ham.
Leverkusen will now focus on domestic matters, as they look to restore their 10-point lead at the top of the table following Bayern Munich’s 5-2 win over Darmstadt on Saturday. Impressively, die Werkself have won nine of their last 10 away games in the top flight, including each of their previous five Bundesliga road trips. However, Leverkusen have taken just a point from their last two away games against Freiburg.
Team News
The visitors are still unable to call upon Arthur, Victor Boniface and Jonas Hofmann.