Freiburg vs Borussia Dortmund

The stakes are high for Freiburg and Borussia Dortmund as they lock horns in a must-win Bundesliga fixture at the Europa-Park Stadion.

European hopefuls Freiburg squandered a glorious opportunity to sneak into the top six last weekend as they turned a one-goal lead into a 2-1 loss against Union Berlin, extending their winless run to four matches (D3, L1). That’s their longest wait for a win under manager Julian Schuster, highlighting the gravity of the crisis in the home camp. Yet, they’re still within touching distance of Leipzig and Monchengladbach, with a win here set to fire them into the European places, at least temporarily. Freiburg can take confidence from tallying an eye-catching 17 home points against sides starting this round in the top 12 this term. Worryingly, they’re up against Dortmund, a side they’ve lost to across their last six H2Hs via multi-goal margins.

Maintaining that strong H2H form could be crucial as Dortmund look to salvage what’s shaping up to be their worst season in a decade, sitting in the bottom half and at least 15 points adrift of their tally at this stage in five of the last six campaigns. Despite Niko Kovac’s unenviable start in the dugout (W3, L4), the visitors remain in the European picture, trailing their hosts by only four points pre-round. Yet, with a two-legged Champions League quarter-final tie against Barcelona waiting in the wings, Dortmund must cope with a significant distraction ahead of next weekend’s Der Klassiker against Bayern Munich. Ominously, they’ve only claimed one away win this season against teams sitting above them in the table ahead of this round (D3, L4).