SC Freiburg vs Bayer Leverkusen: Bundesliga Preview, Gameweek 22, 2023

Title chasing SC Freiburg will welcome Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday afternoon in a vital Bundesliga match.

Freiburg have been one of the surprise packages this season. Many people believed they would struggle, in particular, because they sold some of their best players such as Nico Schlotterbeck.

However, a brilliant run of form before the world cup break means that they find themselves sitting in fourth place and only three points behind league leaders Bayern Munich.

In addition, they are still in the DFB Pokal are scheduled to play Bayern in the quarter-finals.

Since the resumption of the Bundesliga following the world cup break Freiburg have only managed to win two games.

But they are still in the hunt for the Bundesliga title this season along with Bayern, Borussia Dortmund, Union Berlin and RB Leipzig.

Meanwhile Bayer Leverkusen have had an underwhelming season so far and currently find themselves sitting in 10th place 13 points adrift from the champions league places.

Leverkusen have also lost five of their league matches since the Bundesliga resumed after the World Cup.

The positive news for Leverkusen fans is that they are in the Europa league round of 16 and face a very winnable tie against Ferencváros.

Team News

SC Freiburg

Freiburg head coach Christian Streich has only got a few players that are not available. defender Christian Gunter is unavailable as he is serving a suspension due to the number of yellow cards that he has received this season, while striker Daniel-Kofi Kyereh is out due to injury.

However slick Japanese winger Ritsu Doan should start along with Italian talisman Vincenzo Grifo, with both looking to cause the Leverkusen defence some problems on Sunday afternoon.

Bayer Leverkusen

Meanwhile Leverkusen head coach Xavi Alonso has got several key players missing. Talented young Ecuadorian center back Piero Hincapie is out due to injury along with Jonathan Tah.

Winger Amine Adli is also out injured while defender Daley Sinkgraven is a doubt due to a muscle problem. Influential veteran midfielder Charles Aranguiz is also on Leverkusen’s injury list. Alonso will most likely rotate the team that plays on Sunday to give certain players a rest after the match on Thursday.

However you would expect that the likes of Moussa Diaby, Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz and Patrik Schick should start on Sunday afternoon.

Likely Lineups

SC Freiburg: Flekken, Sildillia, Ginter, Lienhart, Kübler, Eggestein, Höfler, Doan, Höler, Grifo, Gregoritsch

Bayer Leverkusen: Hradecky, Frimpong, Kossounou, Tapsoba, Bakker, Demirbay, Andrich, Amiri, Wirtz, Hlozek, Schick

Key players

SC Freiburg- Vincenzo Grifo

The standout player for Freiburg this season has been Italian winger Vincenzo Grifo. Grifo has managed to get himself and impressive 13 goals as well as five assists.

He has also combined very well with Freiburg's new signing this season Michael Gregoritsch and the two of them combined have scored 24 goals in 56 matches. Making up most of the goals the Freiburg as a team have scored this season.

With Leverkusen having injuries to a few first team defenders Grifo will be hoping that he can cause havoc and help his team get a vital win.

Bayer Leverkusen- Moussa Diaby

Bayer Leverkusen is renounced for having good attacking young players, and they have another one this season.

Moussa Diaby is having a very prolific campaign this season managing to score 10 goals five more than his closest rival who is Frimpong.

Leverkusen will hope to try and keep him for next season, However there are already transfer rumore swirling that several clubs might try and sign him in the summer in particular clubs in England such as Arsenal or Newcastle.