With 10 games to go in the Bundesliga this season, Freiburg and Bayer Leverkusen lock horns at the Europa-Park Stadion to fight for European places on the table.
Ever since Freiburg sealed a place in the DFB Pokal semi-final following a penalty shootout victory over Hertha Berlin, Julian Schuster has guided his team through a run of inconsistent results, in which they lost to Hoffenheim and Eintracht Frankfurt, while grabbing all three points from Borussia Mönchengladbach. Die Breisgauer bring a 15-game unbeaten home run across all competitions to their upcoming match, as they hope to grab maximum points this weekend to add momentum for a potential top-six finish.
Defender Max Rosenfelder is set to miss this clash due to a thigh issue. Philipp Lienhart has yet to train with the squad after an abdominal muscle injury.
As for Bayer Leverkusen, they come into this match on the back of a narrow 1-0 win against Hamburg, in a game rescheduled from January. Christian Kofane’s second half strike made the difference between the two sides as Die Werkself reached 43 points and progressed to sixth in the standings, three points away from 4th-placed RB Leipzig.
Kasper Hjulmand will be without the services of Loïc Badé, Lucas Vázquez and Arthur for the match. Striker Patrick Schick picked up a muscle injury that will keep him out of the fixture. Youngster Montrell Culbreath received praise from his coach after a stellar showing versus Die Rothosen, and he is expected to feature in the starting eleven for the Freiburg game.
Freiburg: Atubolu – Treu, Ginter, Ogbus, Günter – M. Eggestein, Manzambi – Beste, Suzuki, Scherhant – Matanović.
Leverkusen: Blaswich – Quansah, Andrich, Tapsoba, Grimaldo – Aleix García, Palacios – Culbreath, Maza – Terrier, Kofane.
