The shockwaves from the 4-0 defeat at VfB Stuttgart have still been felt at the training ground over the past few days. At the MHPArena immediately following the match, Julian Schuster was clear that “I expect everyone to take responsibility in the coming days.” Now, a few days later, the SC head coach described how the week of training started: “Firstly, it was important to give ourselves time to talk about the game and analyse it in detail with the lads. It was good to pinpoint the things we need to work on.”

It will be important to turn our focus onto the future without losing sight of good performances in the past. “What’s important is how you develop over time,” said Schuster at the press conference ahead of Saturday’s game against the record champions. “This is the right moment to focus on the basics again and get back to where we were before.” During the reverse fixture, a 2-0 defeat for SCF in Munich, top scorer Harry Kane and his team needed a penalty for a handball, which was controversial to say the least, in order to set them on the path to victory.

Believing in our own strengths

SC head coach Schuster outlined how Freiburg can get back into a run of form and get many more good results. “It’ll be important to show a lot of passion and a lot of confidence. That’s what we’ve been focusing on this week – not so much on the opponents, but instead on our own qualities.”

This quality could be boosted by the return of a number of players to training this week, including Matthias Ginter, Kiliann Sildillia and Noah Atubolu, all of whom will be available to face Bayern. Florent Muslija, who is suffering from an ankle problem, and Manuel Gulde, who returned to partial team training this week, will however not be in the squad to take on Vincent Kompany’s side.

Looking to emulate Feyenoord

League leaders Bayern are one of just four teams to have won all of their three Bundesliga games in 2025, but they did fall to a 3-0 UEFA Champions League defeat away at Feyenoord on Wednesday evening. The Dutch side were able to use to use counterattacks to threaten the backline including Kim Min-jae, as Bayern defended very high up the pitch. “Bayern can play like that because they have a lot of pace in their back four. It can definitely help to have players who can keep up with them. You have to pass the ball to them first though,” said Schuster.

The SCF head coach also mentioned how dangerous Bayern are in attack. “They always have a certain kind of determination after a defeat. We all know what it means when FC Bayern lose. On the other hand, the game showed how you can hurt them.”

The two fairest teams in the league, in terms of least fouls committed, are facing each other at a sold-out Europa-Park Stadion. They are also two teams with a knack of scoring from distance. The visitors have netted 11 times from range, while Freiburg have done so on six occasions.

Photo: Achim Keller