The match will take place behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

SCF are well-positioned ahead of Saturday’s game. The club currently sit in eight place with 37 points, and are 14 points clear of the relegation zone. With eight matchdays to go, Freiburg will have little need to worry about relegation. However, the team are looking to end the season strong. “We already have the internal expectation that we deliver a strong performance in Gladbach. I don’t think that we’ll be any less hungry than Gladbach on Saturday night,” Christian Streich said during a pre-match press conference on Thursday at the Schwarzwald-Stadion. 

Head coach Marco Rose’s side are currently in tenth with 36 points, having witnessed a dip in form in the second half of the season. The Foals have lost five Bundesliga games in the last two months, along with two draws. Their 4-0 win over Schalke on matchday 26 was their first since the end of January. 

“Gladbach will do everything they can in order to get back-to-back wins in order to get firmly back on track. We cannot allow that to influence us, however, as we are competing for the same thing on Saturday,” said Streich. “It won’t be an easy game for either team. I can imagine that it will be a very attacking-minded and exciting match.” The coach will be hoping for a similar performance as in the reverse fixture earlier this season. After a spirited first half, which Streich called “one of our best this season,” SCF were rewarded with a point in a 2-2 draw. 

The team will have to make up for Chicco Höfler’s absence. The midfielder is serving a suspension (5 yellows), and will not travel to Monchengladbach. It remains to be seen whether Nils Petersen and Wooyeong Jeong will be able to feature. After recovering from Covid-19, Petersen passed a medical check, but only returned to the pitch for the first time on Thursday. Jeong has returned from international duty, along with Philipp Lienhart, Vincenzo Grifo, Ermedin Demirovic and Roland Sallai, and are all available after having recorded two negative PCR test results. However, Jeong has been dealing with knee muscle issues since his return from international duty with South Korea.

Meanwhile, after nearly half a year out injured, goalkeeper Mark Flekken was able to make his comeback in a friendly against Basel (2-0 win) last week.