Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Freiburg

Borussia stop the rot

Borussia Mönchengladbach avoided an eighth straight defeat in all competitions last time out, which would have been a new negative club record.
Instead, they won 3-0 away to FC Schalke 04.
The win followed a run of 9 games without victory (their last win was 2-1 in Stuttgart in the DFB-Pokal on 3rd February), including 7 Bundesliga matches (their last Bundesliga victory was 4-2 against Borussia Dortmund on 22nd January).

Lots of points and goals – Freiburg have good history

SC Freiburg rounded things off before the international break with a 2-0 win against FC Augsburg, meaning they have 37 points on the board after 26 Bundesliga games.
This is exactly as many as they had at this stage last season - they have never had more at this point in a season under Christian Streich.
Including goal difference (39-39 – 39 goals at this stage is Freiburg’s best tally for 26 years), they are doing marginally better than they were at this point last season (35-36 goal difference).
After 26 games, Gladbach have 16 points fewer (36) than they did at the same stage last season (52).

Roles reversed

Gladbach sit in 10th place, with Freiburg in eighth and just touching distance away from the Euro- pean places.
In the reverse fixture on 5th December, Freiburg were in 14th place, whilst Gladbach were in seventh.

Home advantage matters

In the last 25 meetings between the two sides in the Bundesliga, the away side has never won.
The last away victory in this fixture came when Gladbach won in Freiburg in March 2002 (1-0, Max Eberl played the full 90 minutes).
Freiburg’s last and only Bundesliga win in Mönchengladbach came over 25 years ago, when Damir Buric and Uwe Wassmer scored in a 2-1 win for SCF on 1st April 1995.
Gladbach are unbeaten in 16 Bundesliga home games against Freiburg since then (W10, D6), the longest unbeaten home run they can currently boast against any Bundesliga side.

Grifo unsuccessful at Gladbach but successful against them

Vincenzo Grifo has scored 7 Bundesliga goals this season, equalling his record from 2018/19.
However, he has failed to net in his last 12 Bundesliga games, last scoring in his first game of 2021 against 1899 Hoffenheim on 2nd January.
He could set a new personal record for Bundesliga goals against his former club – this would also be his 25th Bundesliga goal (23 of his 24 goals have come for SCF).
Grifo had a disappointing season at Borussia in 2017/18, playing just 17 Bundesliga games (starting just 9) and failing to score a goal.
He has already scored 2 goals against Gladbach – one from the penalty spot in the reverse fixture (2-2) and the other in a 1-1 draw in Mönchengladbach on 15th March 2019.
This is Freiburg’s only point in their last 6 games away to Gladbach.

Set-piece specialists

Borussia Mönchengladbach have scored a league-high 18 goals from set pieces this season, while Freiburg have scored 13 goals from set pieces in 2020/21 (fourth place, their set-piece goal against Augsburg last time out was their first in the Rückrunde).
Both teams have set-piece specialists in their ranks – Vincenzo Grifo has created a league-high 9 goals from set pieces this season.
Gladbach’s Jonas Hofmann (he misses the match due covid-19 illness) is right behind him in the rankings, having created 8 goals in this manner this season (he assisted the second goal against Schalke from a corner last time out).
Lars Stindl’s set pieces have also led to 7 goals this season, albeit 5 of them have come from the penalty spot.

Dream start for Ginter at Freiburg

Matthias Ginter was born in Freiburg and was given his Bundesliga debut by Christian Streich in his first game in charge of the Freiburg first team on 21st January 2012.
In the game, two days after his 18th birthday, he scored the winner in a 1-0 victory against FC Augsburg.
He is still Freiburg’s youngest ever Bundesliga goalscorer.
Matthias Ginter is one of 4 outfield players who have played every minute of every game in the Bundesliga this season (including Freiburg’s Christian Günter who was outstanding against Augsburg last time out, and the Union Berlin centre-backs Marvin Friedrich and Robin Knoche).

Lots of lost leads

Gladbach have lost the lead a league-high 9 times this season, dropping 21 points from winning positions (D6, L3).
Freiburg have dropped 15 points from winning positions this season (D6, L1).
The reverse fixture between the two sides sums this up, with Gladbach leading 1-0 before Freiburg went 2-1 up – the game then finished 2-2.

Freiburg something to aspire to

Gladbach have converted just 45% of their clear-cut chances this season (15th place), whilst Freiburg have converted 72% of theirs (2nd place behind Bremen).

Winless after international breaks

The Bundesliga is getting back underway after the third international break of the season.
Both Gladbach (D2) and Freiburg (D1, L1) failed to win after the two previous international breaks.

Big milestones

Oscar Wendt is on the verge of his 300th competitive game for Borussia Mönchengladbach (Ramy Bensebaini is suspended due to five yellow cards so he could start the game), whilst Nico Elvedi is on the verge of his 200th competitive game for the club.
Wendt (whose 238 Bundesliga appearances make him the record appearance maker for a non-German at Gladbach) has been at the club since 2011, but is returning to IFK Göteborg in the summer (where he began his career).
Elvedi has been at Gladbach since 2015.

Höfler suspended

Freiburg will be without one of their most important players for the game: Nicolas Höfler picked up his 10th yellow card of the season against Augsburg and will be the first player of the season to serve two yellow-card suspensions.

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