In their first game of the 2024-25 Bundesliga season, Freiburg are set to host Stuttgart on Saturday at Europa-Park Stadion.
The hosts finished 10th last term with 42 points from 34 games, while the visitors had a much more successful season considering they qualified for the Champions League after finishing second with 73 points.
Match preview
Freiburg will be hoping to start their 2024-25 Bundesliga campaign in similar fashion to last, when they won their opening two games against Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen.
However, the home side will have been disappointed with their overall showing in 2023-24 considering they finished fifth in 2022-23 and sixth in 2021-22.
Breisgau-Brasilianer will also be embarking on their first campaign without long-term manager Christian Streich, who had been in charge since the 2011-12 season but stepped down at the end of 2023-24 after 29 years at the club.
Julian Schuster was appointed in his place, and in his first game in charge managed to beat Osnabruck 4-0 in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on August 17.
Freiburg scored 45 goals and conceded 58 times last term, and of the 18 teams in the top flight, this made them the division's 12th best offensive and joint 11th best defensive team.
The home side failed to win any of their final eight games at Europa-Park Stadion, and lost four times in this period.
Opponents Stuttgart lost on penalties against Bayer Leverkusen on August 17 in the German Super Cup final, and will be immensely disappointed that they drew 2-2 with Xabi Alonso's team in regulation time considering Leverkusen were reduced to 10 players after just 37 minutes.
Having said that, their loss should not overshadow the scale of their achievement in 2023-24, although it has perhaps gone under the radar given Bayer Leverkusen's invincible campaign.
The visitors' qualification for the Champions League is made even more remarkable when considering they only survived relegation in 2022-23 thanks to their 6-1 aggregate win against Hamburg in the relegation playoff tie.
In fact, when current boss Sebastian Hoeness took charge in April 2023, his side were bottom of the table.
Hoeness's success last term saw him linked with some of Europe's elite teams, including Bayern Munich, though he extended his contract through the end of the 2026-27 season in March.
Stuttgart ended the most recent campaign having scored 78 goals and conceded 39 times, and these were the Bundesliga's third-best offensive and joint second-best defensive records respectively.
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Team News
The hosts will be without defenders Kilian Sildillia and Manuel Gulde, as well as midfielder Merlin Rohl, until next month.
Freiburg also have doubts about the availability of Matthias Ginter and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh, while Ritsu Doan, Roland Sallai and Eren Dinkci could return in the next few days.
As for the visitors, they come into the clash without defenders Nikolas Nartey and Dan Axel Zagadou because of knee injuries, while Luca Raimund and Josha Vagnoman will also be absent.
Stuttgart also have doubts over the fitness of Leonidas Stergiou and centre-back Anthony Rouault.
Striker Serhou Guirassy left the club to join Borussia Dortmund in July, so expect Ermedin Demirovic and Deniz Undav to be used in the forward line.
Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Muller; Kubler, Rosenfelder, Lienhart, Gunter; Doan, Eggestein, Osterhage, Grifo; Holer, Adamu
Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Nubel; Stenzel, Hendriks, Chabot, Mittelstadt; Silas, Karazor, Stiller, Fuhrich; Demirovic, Undav
We say: Freiburg 2-2 Stuttgart
The arrival of new boss Schuster could be a welcome boost for Freiburg, and they could continue to benefit from his fresh ideas.
Stuttgart could also have a hangover from their penalty-shootout defeat last week against Bayer Leverkusen, and it would not be surprising if they dropped points on their opening matchday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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