On Saturday 26th August, SV Werder take on SC Freiburg in their first away game of the 2023/24 Bundesliga season (15:30 CEST). Ole Werner’s team is aiming to pick up their first points of the season that has just begun. That won’t be an easy task against the Europa League participants, but there are some encouraging signs for the visitors.
On the squad: Milos Veljkovic is going to miss out due to illness. Naby Keïta and Felix Agu will also be absent. “The rest of the squad is available to play. Niklas Stark is fully fit once again,” head coach Ole Werner revealed during Thursday’s press conference.
Head coach Ole Werner on the opposition: “It’s always important to play with intensity in Freiburg. Freiburg are a team who are very physical, put pressure on the opposition at set-pieces, have a lot of shots at goal and put in plenty of crosses. Generally, their fitness levels are very good. When it comes to set pieces, they are always coming up with new ideas. However, they also are very versatile when it comes to open play. Moreover, Freiburg additionally adapted to how we play over the last year. As a result, they challenge you mentally as well as physically. Intensity will certainly be crucial if we are to come out on top.”
Previous encounters: Saturday’s game will be the 45th time the clubs have played one another in the Bundesliga. At the time of writing, the overall record favours Werder. The Green-Whites have won 23 games to SCF’s 11, with 10 matches ending in a draw. Last time round, the team from Breisgau narrowly defeated SVW. After Maximilian Philipp, who recently made the move back to Freiburg, scored the opening goal, SC managed to turn the game around, winning 2-1 at the wohninvest WESERSTADION.
Happy travels to Breisgau: SVW don’t just have more wins overall; they also have a winning record in games when Freiburg are at home. Werder have won 12 times in Breisgau and have come away with a point on four more occasions. The Green-Whites have only returned to Bremen empty-handed six times.
Tight games: Since 2010, only one encounter between these teams has been decided by a margin of more than two goals. On April 1st 2017, Werder won 5-2 in Freiburg, with Thomas Delaney bagging a hat-trick. Goals from Max Kruse and Fin Bartels completed the victory. On the sixth matchday of the following season, it was a strange result for the opposite reason, as the game ended 0-0.
