SC Freiburg: Heading into the run-in with good home form and European momentum

FC Bayern's game at Sport-Club Freiburg on Saturday (15.30 CEST), will see a meeting of the only two teams in German football who are still represented in three competitions heading into the season run-in. The Munich men are determined to get the decisive weeks underway with a win and take another step towards the league title. However, they'll be up against awkward opponents in the form of Freiburg. Especially on their own turf at Europa-Park-Stadion, the side from the Breisgau region have been very difficult to beat this season. Check out our opposition profile to find out how SCF will try to cause Bayern problems.

Freiburg recorded two very important victories ahead of the international break. In the Europa League, after losing the first leg 1-0, head coach Julian Schuster's side thrashed Genk 5-1 at home to progress to the quarter-finals, where they'll now face Celta Vigo. SCF will be looking to take the momentum from their first-ever appearance in the last eight on the European stage into the league run-in. Three days later, they came away with a hard-fought 2-1 win at FC St. Pauli in the Bundesliga , which reduced the gap to seventh place, currently occupied by Eintracht Frankfurt, to just a point.

European football the goal

Freiburg will need to end the current league campaign in at least seventh place to ensure a return to the European stage next season - whether it will ultimately be enough to qualify for the Conference League depends on the final position of the eventual DFB Cup winners. However, the Breisgau Brazilians still have the chance to qualify for European competition via this season's Europa League and the cup, where they have a semi-final against VfB Stuttgart.

FC Bayern experienced first-hand just how dangerous the Breisgau side can be in the first half of the season, when they found themselves 2-0 down at home after less than 20 minutes. However, thanks to a significant improvement in performance, FCB ended up running out emphatic 6-2 winners. SCF's big trump card, however, is their strong home form. Freiburg picked up 25 of their 37 points in the Bundesliga at Europa-Park-Stadion, defeating VfB Stuttgart amongst others and drawing against Borussia Dortmund, TSG Hoffenheim and Bayer 04 Leverkusen. They’ve also won all of their home games in the Europa League and DFB Cup.

Schuster usually deploys his team in a 4-2-3-1 formation. The Freiburg head coach uses a solid central axis consisting of goalkeeper Noah Atubolu, centre-back Matthias Ginter, defensive midfielders Maximilian Eggestein and Johan Manzambi and, up front, the potent Yuito Suzuki at number ten and striker Igor Matanović, who last time out scored both goals against St. Pauli.

Philipp Lienhart, an experienced centre-back who was recently sidelined due to injury, is also set to make a return to the starting XI. Philipp Treu (right) and Jordy Makengo (left) are expected to fill the full-back positions. In attack, Schuster has a number of in-form options on the wings in Vincenzo Grifo, Jan-Niklas Beste, Derry Scherhant and Cyriaque Irié.

So Bayern can expect opponents who will be extremely awkward to play against. Nonetheless, the Munich men will be looking to extend their winning streak of recent weeks and further boost their confidence for next week's Champions League clash with Real Madrid.

Bayern started their preparations for Saturday's game with an open training session on Tuesday: