FC Bayern ahead of Freiburg: 'Be ready and take it up a notch'

FC Bayern visit SC Freiburg on Friday evening in the opening fixture of Bundesliga Matchday 24 (live text and free Web Radio commentary from 20:30 CET on fcbayern.com and the FC Bayern app). For the German record champions, the meeting in the Black Forest is not just the start of a hugely important week, but it's also a milestone: FCB are contesting their 2,000th Bundesliga match, becoming the first club ever to do so. All the info on the game at Freiburg is in the preview.

Here are the photos from Thursday's final training session:

The state of play for Bayern

Thanks to a gutsy performance, Bayern got back to winning ways last Saturday with a 2-1 victory at home to RB Leipzig. Thomas Tuchel's men showed a good reaction after three consecutive defeats. "A win always helps everyone, particularly a last-minute win," said Tuchel in Thursday's press conference. "It's given us confidence and a positive general feeling. We've had a good week."

Now it's about backing that up at a crucial point in the season. Before aiming to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the Champions League round of 16 second leg against Lazio on Tuesday, the Munich men are looking to maintain their hopes of a big comeback in the Bundesliga title race at Freiburg. The Reds trail leaders Bayer 04 Leverkusen by eight points after 23 matchdays – never before in Bundesliga history has a team managed to make up such a big gap so late in the season. But if anyone can do it, it's FC Bayern. "We have to be ready and take it up a notch," added Tuchel. "The focus is more than ever on the here and now. I'm confident we'll win tomorrow."

Catch up on the key statements from the press conference with Thomas Tuchel:

The opponents: Freiburg

Freiburg sit in ninth place in the table with 29 points following a slump in league form. Having amassed a healthy 28 points from the first 18 games, Christian Streich's side have collected just one from the last five. In Europe, however, things are going very well for SCF, who have a Europa League round-of-16 tie against West Ham United to look forward to. "They're very flexible and do a lot of running, they also use a lot of long balls with up to seven attacking players," described Bayern boss Tuchel. "It's always passionate in Freiburg, too. We'll need answers."

The match at Freiburg is Bayern's 2,000th in the Bundesliga:

The team news

Matthijs de Ligt misses the trip to Freiburg after collecting his fifth yellow card. Tarek Buchmann (muscular), Sacha Boey, Noussair Mazraoui (both hamstring strain), Kingsley Coman (MCL) and Bouna Sarr (ACL) are also unavailable as they continue their rehab from injuries. Leroy Sané is a doubt, but Alphonso Davies (after knee injury) and Dayot Upamecano (after suspension) are available again. Serge Gnabry (adductor) is back in full training but won't travel to Freiburg.

Here are the facts on the match:

The hosts are without centre-back Philipp Lienhart (groin), while Lukas Kübler (muscular) is a doubt.

What the coaches say