The players and the staff have had to quickly come to terms with Tuesday’s result ahead of the weekend’s Bundesliga action. “We didn’t manage to do the things that we needed to do,” explained Christian Streich in Friday’s press conference. “Some players weren’t in the best of form. We have looked at it and we want to do better in all areas on Saturday.”

In terms of the phases of play without the ball, Streich believes his side left too much space and weren’t strong enough in the duels. Despite the areas for improvement, the head coach made it clear that his side can go into the game with confidence: “We’re playing at home and we have won our last three games in the Bundesliga, two of which have been on the road,” he explained. 

There could a change to the side that faced Leipzig in midweek as Ritsu Doan has a knee problem. The head coach, however, refused to fully rule out the Japan international and he may still feature. 

"In an amazing position"

Marco Rose’s team have been riddled with injuries this season, but key men such as Christopher Nkunku and Dani Olmo are back to fitness at just the right time, as they demonstrated on Tuesday. “The most incredible thing is that we are ahead of this team after 30 matches,” explained Streich, whose side are two points ahead of RBL. “We are in an amazing position. Leipzig have to beat us for them to overtake us.”

SCF have lost just one of the last five at home against Leipzig in the league, a run which includes three wins and a draw. Freiburg fans can also draw confidence from the fact that Streich’s men will be looking to exploit set-pieces at the weekend. This is an area in which RBL have somewhat struggled this campaign and have conceded 16 goals already from dead ball situations.

Photo: Achim Keller