Freiburg vs. Heidenheim preview: Basement side aiming for back-to-back wins
FreiburgFreiburg will carry significant momentum into Sunday’s fixture after winning five of their last six competitive matches, including a commanding victory in Thursday’s Europa League quarter-...
Freiburg vs. Heidenheim preview: Basement side aiming for back-to-back wins Freiburg Freiburg will carry significant momentum into Sunday’s fixture after winning five of their last six competitive matches, including a commanding victory in Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final second leg against Celta Vigo. After cruising to a 3-0 win in the first leg, Julian Schuster’s side extended their advantage with an impressive 3-1 success in Galicia, which came courtesy of a Igor Matanović rocket and a Yuito Suzuki brace.
The 6-1 aggregate success set up a semi-final tie against Portuguese side Braga, with the winner going on to face Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest in the final. The Breisgau-Brasilianer will now turn their focus back to Bundesliga action, although they will have one eye on Wednesday’s DFB-Pokal semi-final against Stuttgart. As it stands, the cup and the Europa League represent the most realistic routes for Freiburg to qualify for European competition next season, with the eighth-placed side sitting 11 points adrift of the top six.
Freiburg will be the favourites for Sunday’s meeting with the Bundesliga’s bottom side, but no win in their last three home league games suggests that a win is far from a forgone conclusion (D1, L2). Team News Freiburg remain without Patrick Osterhage and Max Rosenfelder due to knee and thigh injuries respectively. Predicted lineup: Atubolu; Kübler, Ginter, Ogbus, Günter; Eggestein, Manzambi; Irié, Höler, Scherhant; Matanović Heidenheim Heidenheim looks set to drop down to the second tier after mustering 19 points from their 29 league outings.
That said, they have managed to put together a three-game unbeaten run to give themselves some renewed belief ahead of the final five games of the season. After drawing with Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach, Frank Schmidt’s side ended their 15-game winless run with a 3-1 victory against Union Berlin last weekend. Mathias Honsak netted a first-half brace before Leopold Querfeld reduced the deficit at the Voith-Arena.