Bayern prepared for tough task in Freiburg

On Wednesday evening (follow the action from 20:30 CET with our live updates at fcbayern.com) FC Bayern will play their last away match of the year at SC Freiburg. In recent years, the Reds have had a tough time of it at the Schwarzwald stadium, but have won ten of the past 16 games, with five draws and just the one defeat. "It's not that easy to win in Freiburg," admitted Manuel Neuer. "But we don't just want to prevail. We intend to dominate and force our game on them," added the captain confidently. fcbayern.com has all the information on the Matchday 16 showdown. 

The situation

The Bavarians will travel to the Breisgau region full of confidence following the 6-1 win against Werder Bremen. Apart from the three points, the most important thing in the last home game was that the ball finally ended up in the opposition's net again. "The greed for goals was especially noticeable in the second half," said coach Hansi Flick in the press conference on Monday. He was "impressed" by the way his team absolutely wanted to turn the deficit around. "The team is able to deal with situations like that. And it resulted in an energy that we need." Because the record champions are in fifth place and are six points behind league leaders Leipzig, a win in Freiburg will keep the pressure on.

The opposition

Head coach Christian Streich's team have had a really strong season so far and are currently sitting in sixth place, just two points behind FCB. Serge Gnabry paid tribute to his upcoming opponents: "Freiburg have been playing really good football for several years. It's not really surprising that they're up there near the top now." Last weekend, however, SCF went down to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Hertha BSC.

Team news

Heading onto the final straight at the end of the year, FC Bayern's selection options are somewhat limited. While Javi Martínez makes a return against Freiburg following his suspension, Leon Goretzka drops out with muscular problems. There's still a question mark hanging over Corentin Tolisso and the long-term absentees Niklas Süle, Lucas Hernández, Michaël Cuisance and Kingsley Coman are out in any case. Fiete Arp was able to train with the team again this week. Thiago, Joshua Kimmich and Jérôme Boateng will all have to be on their guard, as they all face suspension should they pick up a fifth yellow card.

The situation at SCF is quite different. Streich can draw on almost his complete squad, with an appearance by Jonathan Schmid being the only doubt. 

What the coaches say

Hansi Flick: "It's not easy for many teams to play in Freiburg. They have a compact style of play and it'll be a tough task. They deserve to be where they are. They're a top club and what Christian Streich manages to achieve is phenomenal."

Christian Streich (SC Freiburg head coach): "Wednesday night, under the floodlights, against Bayern - we're in a good place. It's definitely a bit out of the ordinary. The Bayern players are extremely good at counter-pressing and always go deep. They follow that up with super lobs. We have to play our way out of their counter-pressing,  which is quite difficult. And we should always want to play ourselves. We're looking forward to it and want to give the fans a super game under the floodlights. They're not coming just to see Bayern, they want to see us too."

Top Fact

The first half of the season is not over yet, but Robert Lewandowski can look back on 15 games so far with great personal satisfaction. The Poland striker has already scored 18 times, taking him into the top three in the Bundesliga's all-time scorer rankings. Now it's on to SC Freiburg, against whom he has scored 14 times in 14 matches while providing four assists.