Aiming to keep their faint hopes of European qualification alive, Freiburg will travel to Borussia Park to face Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga on Saturday afternoon.
The Foals shared the spoils with newly-promoted Heidenheim last time out, whilst the Breisgau Brazilians narrowly lost to league leaders Bayer Leverkusen.
Match preview
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Following the two-week international break, Borussia Monchengladbach will be hoping to secure their first victory of March on Saturday afternoon, with the third of month of 2024 being one to forget so far after collecting just three points from as many Bundesliga matches.
Draws against Mainz, Koln and Heidenheim did little to excite the fans of the Foals, and it was the DFB Pokal quarter-final exit at the hands of third-tier Saarbrucken which really stung for supporters on March 12, when a 91st-minute goal from Kai Brunker knocked the first-tier side of the competition.
Having won just one of their last nine Bundesliga matches, Gerardo Seoane's men have unsurprisingly slipped down the league standings to 12th place, with Saturday's hosts sitting a comfortable nine points ahead of 16th-placed Mainz, who are currently heading towards the relegation playoff.
Monchengladbach have relied massively on their home form to keep them out of trouble in the Bundesliga this term, with 19 of their 28 league points arriving at Borussia Park, and the Foals have lost just four times in front of their loyal supporters in 13 contests so far.
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The international break may have arrived at an ideal time for Freiburg after back-to-back defeats to West Ham United and Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen, with the former having the potential to do long-term damage to the team's morale - especially considering the way Mohammed Kudus danced around the German side's defence for his first goal.
Despite being kicked off the continental stage in sobering fashion, the Breisgau Brazilians still have plenty to play for in the Bundesliga this term, with Saturday's visitors currently ninth in the league standings, seven points behind sixth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt.
During their last Bundesliga fixture, Freiburg came out on the wrong side of a five-goal thriller versus the unbeaten league leaders on March 17, when goals either side of the half-time interval from Ritsu Doan and Yannik Keitel were not enough to beat a side who look set to pip Harry Kane and Bayern Munich to the German crown.
The Breisgau Brazilians enjoyed one of their finest-ever victories at Borussia Park in December 2021, when Christian Streich's side hit the back of the net on six occasions without reply to beat Adi Hutter's Monchengladbach side handsomely.
Team News
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Borussia Monchengladbach are expected to be without the services of Ko Itakura, who has been suffering with illness whilst on international duty with Japan.
Kouadio Kone faces a battle to be fit again before the end of the campaign after picking up a hamstring strain during his involvement with France Under-23s.
Freiburg are unable to call upon the talents of Philipp Lienhart, with the centre-back suffering a knee injury over the past fortnight.
Daniel-Kofi Kyereh is yet to feature for the Breisgau Brazilians this season due to a cruciate ligament injury sustained in the first half of last year.
Noah Weisshaupt struggled to break into the starting XI at left-back before picking up an ankle injury - now the 22-year-old is sidelined until the middle of April.
Borussia Monchengladbach possible starting lineup:
Omlin; Lainer, Elvedi, Wober, Scally; Reitz, Weigl, Neuhaus; Honorat, Hack, Pefok
Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Atubolu; Sildillia, Ginter, Gulde, Gunter; Doan, Hofler, Eggestein, Grifo; Sallai, Holer
We say: Borussia Monchengladbach 1-2 Freiburg
With their season at serious risk of petering out, we are not expecting much from Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday afternoon at Borussia Park.
Freiburg played well in their defeat to Leverkusen before the break, and we reckon that the Breisgau Brazilians will take that positive momentum into this clash.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Carter White
