Bundesliga Showdown: Freiburg vs. Bayern Munich Preview 2024

Match preview

A really historic night for Freiburg, who had lost to RB Leipzig on penalties in the previous season's final, as they secured their spot in the final four of Germany's domestic cup for the second year in a row.

After some excellent play from Joao Cancelo and Leroy Sane down the left flank to force a corner, Dayot Upamecano appeared to be leading Bayern to a comfortable victory at home when he towered highest to head the Bavarians into a 19-minute lead. However, eight minutes later, Nicolas Hofler's rasping drive from 25 yards levelled the score.

Moments before halftime, Matthias Ginter stopped Thomas Muller's attempt from crossing the line. After the break, Benjamin Pavard, Sane, and Serge Gnabry all missed opportunities to give their team the lead again. In injury time, Lucas Holer punished Thomas Tuchel's team by calmly winning a penalty after Jamal Musiala's obvious handball.

Streich will be anxious to avoid repeating Leipzig's heartbreaking loss from the previous year, but he will also be watching out to make sure his team doesn't lose sight of their main goal this year, which is to make it into the Champions League for the first time in club history.

Leipzig's unexpected 3-0 loss at home to Mainz 05 meant that Breisgau-Brasilianer extended their lead over their main rivals for fourth spot to two points, but only another win against the reigning champions on Saturday will guarantee Freiburg remain in the lead by the end of the weekend. Freiburg dropped two points at home to Hertha Berlin after drawing 1-1 against the relegation-threatened side last weekend.

If they want to win an incredible 11th straight Bundesliga title, they cannot afford to lose too many more points between now and the conclusion of the season, since Dortmund and Union Berlin are both only four points behind Bayern. It's safe to say that their trip to Freiburg on Saturday is one of their hardest league games left. If they can win and return to Munich with three points, it may be a crucial moment in the season.

The former Chelsea manager will be anxious to avoid complacency and make sure that his players are concentrating on one game at a time, even though he may have one eye on his team's thrilling first-leg meeting against Manchester City at home in the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Upamecano, who opened the scoring in Tuesday night's loss to Freiburg, will not be eligible to play against Streich's team after receiving his fifth yellow card of the year against Dortmund in the previous game.

Team News

At the centre of the home team's defence, Pavard might tuck in to partner Matthijs de Ligt, with Cancelo moving to right-back and Alphonso Davies making a comeback to the starting lineup on the other flank following a midweek layoff.

The 49-year-old Tuchel will be eager to use Gnabry, Musiala, and Sadio Mane for extended stretches of this game - whether from the start or the bench - ahead of a key meeting against Man City on Wednesday. That was the only change he made from the 4-2 victory against his previous side Dortmund.

Meanwhile, it seems as if Philipp Lienhart will miss Freiburg's next game again because of a thigh problem. Manuel Gulde will start alongside Ginter in defence.

Streich used a back four at Allianz Arena in their unexpected victory over the Bavarians, and given Lukas Kubler's illness that kept him out of Tuesday's trip, he might not see the need to alter his starting lineup at all after playing brilliantly throughout the match.

Daniel-Kofi Kyereh has a major ACL injury that keeps him out of commission until much later in the year.

Possible starting lineup for Freiburg: Fleckken, Doan, Grifo; Holer, Gregoritsch; Eggestein, Hofler; Sildillia, Ginter, Gulde, and Gunter

Bayern Munich's potential starting lineup is as follows: Sommer; Gnabry, Musiala, Coman; Choupo-Moting; Cancelo, Pavard, De Ligt, Davies; Kimmich, Goretzka