Freiburg sit second with a perfect six points from two wins and a goal difference of +4, while Gladbach are 17th with nothing to show after two defeats. A third straight win would give Freiburg a flawless start to the campaign, another loss for Gladbach would make an early season crisis very hard to deny.
Julian Schuster took charge in March 2024 following Christian Streich's departure, while Eugen Polanski came in as interim in September 2025 and was confirmed as permanent manager two months later after Gerardo Seoane's exit. Their shared record is short but has leaned toward Freiburg, with no meeting yet going Polanski's way.
Freiburg beat Werder Bremen 4-1 on 30 August and Paderborn 1-0 on 5 September, scoring five and conceding one across both games, whereas Gladbach have lost both of their fixtures including a 3-4 defeat to Elversberg, with defensive transitions and holding leads the obvious problems.
Freiburg have no injury concerns, so Schuster names his strongest available lineup, whereas Gladbach are considerably worse off with Jens Castrop (shoulder), Daiki Hashioka (knock and neck issue) and Yukhym Konoplya (knee) all unavailable, forcing Polanski to patch together a back line that already conceded seven goals in two games. Matthias Ginter leads Freiburg's defence while Maximilian Eggestein anchors midfield after signing a contract extension in September 2026. For Gladbach, losing three defenders strips the protection in front of the goalkeeper to a degree that is very difficult to compensate for.
Freiburg's 4-2-3-1 prioritises defensive discipline before transition and Yuito Suzuki's hat trick against Werder shows what the front line can do when space opens up behind opposing midfields, with Igor Matanovic providing the physical link up play that makes those runs work. Against Gladbach's expansive shape, Eggestein's progressive passing should be the main engine for breaking lines and finding runners in behind.
Gladbach's attacking shape under Polanski leaves large gaps between the lines when they lose the ball and losing Castrop, Hashioka and Konoplya makes that considerably worse. Ko Itakura will carry more than his usual load at centre back, while Joe Scally on the right will need to balance overlapping runs against Freiburg's left sided attackers without the defensive cover he would normally expect. If Eggestein wins second balls against Kleindienst in the central zones, Gladbach's build up gets choked off at source. The three absences also narrow Polanski's options tactically: he may ask the full backs to tuck in tighter to plug the gaps, which would hand Freiburg's wingers room on the outside and play right into the coordinated mid block press that Freiburg use to punish teams short on defensive depth.
Freiburg haven't lost to Gladbach in over ten Bundesliga meetings and Gladbach's last away win at the Europa Park Stadion came in 2007, making this one of the more one sided recent head to head records in the Bundesliga.
Ginter's aerial presence and Eggestein's delivery from dead ball situations give Freiburg another angle against a defence already missing three bodies and Gladbach's vulnerability on counter attacks launched from defensive set pieces is real too, particularly without Hashioka and Konoplya's recovery pace. Gladbach's desperation for points will likely push them forward and open the spaces that Suzuki and Matanovic thrive on.
Freiburg's structure and Gladbach's missing defenders make this a comfortable home win on paper but Kleindienst alone keeps a clean sheet from being realistic. Suzuki or Matanovic should find the net and Freiburg should protect their lead on the break or from a set piece: 2-1 to Freiburg.
Ryan Baldi
Football Writer
Ryan Baldi is a professional football writer with years of experience and has been featured by respected outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Sky Sports, DAZN, FourFourTwo, ESPN, Yahoo Sport and Football365. He has also written several books including Arsène Who?.
