Crucial clash in battle for Champions League qualification

Two teams vying for Champions League qualification will face off when Mainz welcome Freiburg to the Mewa Arena for Saturday’s Bundesliga clash.

Mainz 05

Mainz are sitting in third place in the league table after dropping just two points in their last five matches. After playing out a goalless draw against Augsburg, Mainz went on to record victories over Heidenheim, St. Pauli and RB Leipzig, before claiming a 3-1 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach last weekend. Paul Nebel, Dominik Kohr and Nadiem Amiri all got on the scoresheet to seal all three points at Borussia-Park. 

As a result of their recent fine form, Mainz are two points clear of third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt and three points better off than Freiburg in fifth position. Despite being in a strong position, Bo Henriksen will know his side still need a strong run of results in their final nine games if Mainz are to achieve Champions League qualification for the first time in their history.

Mainz will fancy their chances of claiming all three points on Saturday, having won six of their last seven Bundesliga home matches (D1), scoring at least two goals in each of those victories.

Team News

Mainz have reported no fresh injury concerns, although they are still without the services of Stefan Bell.

Freiburg

Freiburg are sitting in fifth place after winning 12, drawing five and losing eight of their 25 league matches this season. Like Saturday’s opponents, they have proven to be a tough team to beat in recent times, having avoided defeat in their last six games since losing to Bayern Munich on January 25, keeping clean sheets in each of those six matches. Julian Schuster’s side recorded victories over Bochum, Heidenheim, St. Pauli and Werder Bremen, before they played out goalless draws with Augsburg and RB Leipzig. 

Impressively, Freiburg have now claimed 10 Bundesliga clean sheets this season, a tally that has only been bettered by the top two sides. They recorded one of those shutouts in November’s reverse fixture against Mainz, which finished in a goalless draw at Europa-Park Stadion. That result extended Freiburg’s unbeaten head-to-head run to seven matches (W2, D5) since losing 1-0 in March 2021.

Team News

The visitors are unable to call upon the injured trio of Merlin Röhl, Bruno Ogbus and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh.