Freiburg Form and Lineup
The home defeat against Bayern Munich (2:3) after the international break split the dark-reds' winning streaks. Since 19 March Freiburg have won five of six matches, and even in the game against the Munich side they could have taken points – all three goals were conceded after the 80th minute. On the other hand, that defeat became a good lesson for Schuster's team. In the next three matches the side conceded only one goal, confidently seeing off Celta (6:1 on aggregate) in the Europa League quarter-finals. A week ago the "Brazilians from Breisgau" ground out an away win over solid Mainz (1:0) thanks to reliable defending – the opponents created only 0.46 xG over 90 minutes. At home Freiburg are among the top three in the league for expected goals against allowed (17.40 xGA) – only Bayer Leverkusen (14.80) and Bayern Munich (13.97) are better in the Bundesliga.
Key Freiburg Numbers:
- Schuster's team have collected 25 of their 40 points at home (seventh place in the Bundesliga).
- In the last four head-to-head meetings with Heidenheim, Freiburg have conceded only two goals.
- Since September Freiburg have suffered only two home defeats. From the second half of October they have recorded seven home wins to nil.
Potential Freiburg Lineup (4-2-3-1): Noah Atubolu – Christian Gunter, Bruno Ogbus, Matthias Ginter, Lukas Kubler – Yohan Manzambi, Maximilian Eggestein – Vincenzo Grifo, Lucas Heler, Jan-Niklas Beste – Igor Matanovic
Out of squad: Patrick Osterhage, Max Rosenfelder (both injured)
Heidenheim Form and Lineup
Last weekend Schmidt's team claimed their first win since the start of December, beating crisis-hit Union (3:1) – the Berlin club immediately dismissed their coach. A playing crisis has haunted the red-and-blues throughout the campaign – their attack suffers most of all. Since 24 January Heidenheim have suffered five defeats to nil in 11 matches – the last three of those came away from home. Despite the emphatic victory over the Berlin side, Schmidt's team score far too rarely on their travels – just 11 goals in the entire league campaign (the worst tally along with Hamburg and St Pauli), and their finishing leaves much to be desired (they are five goals short of their xG). Heidenheim still have a mathematical chance of survival, but they are seven points off the play-off spot – with five matches left it is extremely difficult to make up that gap, especially when they so rarely please with goals.
Key Heidenheim Numbers:
- Away from home the red-and-blues have picked up only five points from 14 matches – by far the worst record.
- Only two Heidenheim players feature in the top 100 scorers in the Bundesliga – Schimmer (5+1) and Pieringer (4+1).
- In 2026 Heidenheim have collected only eight points from 14 games (second from bottom).
Potential Heidenheim Lineup (4-4-2): Diant Ramaj – Hennes Behrens, Jonas Fohrenbach, Patrick Mainka, Marnon Busch – Mathias Honsak, Jan Schoppner, Julian Niehues, Eren Dinkci – Marvin Pieringer, Stefan Schimmer
Out of squad: Leart Paqarada (injured)
Who Will Referee the Match
Patrick Ittrich (Germany)
Matches – 8 (the Bundesliga, 2025/26);
Yellow cards shown (including second yellows) – 23;
Average yellow cards per match – 2.9;
Red cards shown – 0;
Average fouls per match – 17;
Penalties – 13%.
