Having drawn 2-2 at Royale Union Saint-Gilloise on Thursday, Eintracht are back in action on Sunday 18 February when they travel to SC Freiburg (kick-off 15:30 CET). The Black Forest club are currently seventh in the Bundesliga standings going into Matchday 22, four points behind Eintracht in sixth.
The backdrop: “Implement our own game plan”
“We need to assert ourselves in our games any way we can and we can’t let our opponents execute their plans,” said board member for sport Markus Krösche after the draw at Union Saint-Gilloise. “We need to clinically implement our own game plan, even if there are setbacks.”
Freiburg have conceded more goals than any other Bundesliga side in the opening quarter of an hour of their games so far in 2023/24, with Noah Atubolu plucking the ball out of his net eight times during that period. Furthermore, Freiburg have lost their last three Bundesliga fixtures, suffering defeats against SV Werder Bremen, VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund, and have let in more goals (11) in the second half of the season than any other side. However, Christian Streich’s side did earn a 0-0 draw at RC Lens in the UEFA Europa League knockout round play-offs on Thursday.
Looking back: Goalless draw on MD5
The reverse fixture in Frankfurt on Matchday 5 ended goalless. Farès Chaibi made his starting debut for the Eagles, while Ignacio Ferri Julià came off the bench in the 80th minute to make his first Bundesliga appearance. Another Eintracht player – winter signing Donny van de Beek – also made his first outing for the club against Freiburg in the 5-2 friendly defeat at the start of January.
