SC Freiburg will look to keep their European qualification dreams alive when they take on Wolfsburg at Europa-Park Stadion in gameweek 31 of the Bundesliga this Saturday.
Both these sides have contrasting ambitions for the remainder of the campaign, with the hosts hunting down the top six while the visitors are fighting to avoid the drop.
Match preview
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As it stands, Freiburg are the first side below European qualification and saw the gap to sixth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt widen to five points last week when they were held to a 1-1 draw by relegation candidates Mainz at this venue.
The SC faithful were delighted by the team's exceptional start against Mainz, as their very first attack resulted in the opening goal, with Ritsu Doan delivering a precise cross that found Michael Gregoritsch, who calmly converted the chance with a clinical finish. Unfortunately, after they were pegged back just before the break, Freiburg were unable to find a go-ahead goal in the second period and were forced to settle for a point.
That result extended Freiburg's winless run at Europa-Park Stadion to six consecutive games, including three draws and three losses, and they conceded two or more goals in all but one of those matches.
While top six remains the target, the Breisgau Brazilians may receive a stroke of luck in their quest for continental competition. If Bayer Leverkusen wins the DFB-Pokal final against Kaiserslautern, Freiburg could earn a Conference League spot even with a seventh-placed finish.
The club is also preparing for major changes in the summer following the unexpected announcement that long-term manager Christian Streich will leave at the end of the current season, with former midfielder Julian Schuster confirmed as the club's next head coach.
Despite operating with relatively modest financial resources and being one of the few professional clubs fully controlled by its members, Streich has guided Freiburg into European competition on four occasions.
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Meanwhile, Wolfsburg are having one of the worst seasons in a while, which led to the dismissal of Nico Kovac last month, with former Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl being brought in to steer the side to safety.
The Wolves new boss notched up his second win last week, beating Bochum 1-0 at home in a crucial encounter between two clubs struggling at the bottom of the table amid serious administrative turmoil.
Jonas Wind hammered home the only goal of the match in the 43rd minute after Bochum failed to clear a straightforward long ball into the box, and the victory saw Wolfsburg move four points clear of the relegation playoff spot.
While safety is certainly not guaranteed for Die Wolfe, they do have a much better remaining schedule than the likes of Bochum, with matches against Mainz and Darmstadt making up two of their final three games this season.
The visitors have only won one of their last seven away games in the league (W1 D3 L3) and are the clear underdogs here, having lost the reverse fixture 1-0 at Volkswagen Arena back in December.
Team News
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Freiburg already had several players unavailable at the moment, and will now have to make do without the services of Lukas Kubler, who is suspended for this match due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
In terms of injuries, Merlin Rohl, Philipp Lienhart and Noah Weisshaupt are all ruled out until next month, while Matthias Ginter, Kenneth Schmidt and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh are likely out for the rest of the season.
For the visitors, Lukas Nmecha is done for the season with a muscle injury, although Rogerio could be in line to make a return to the matchday squad after missing the last four games with a knock.
Koen Casteels is expected to remain sidelined for another couple of weeks, which will likely mean that the Austrian veteran Pavao Pervan will continue between the sticks for this match.
Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Atubolu; Sildillia, Keitel, Gulde; Doan, Eggestein, Hofler, Gunter; Grifo, Holer; Gregoritsch
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Pervan; Lacroix, Bornauw, Zesiger; Fischer, Vranckx, Arnold, Gerhardt; Baku, Wind, Tomas
We say: Freiburg 2-1 Wolfsburg
While Freiburg have experienced a slight dip in home form lately, it is worth pointing out that five of their last six games at Europa-Park Stadion were against sides in the top six of the Bundesliga standings. We expect the hosts to put on a much better showing this week and feel they will emerge with the points from this match.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
