SC Freiburg: Constant development into a top team
A cup final in 2022, a cup semi-final and a UEFA Europa League last-16 tie last season, plus sixth and fifth-place Bundesliga finishes in the last two campaigns – SC Freiburg are now among the top teams in the Bundesliga. The successes of the past two years have also led to changes in the squad structure: the club have kept hold of top players like Philipp Lienhart and Ritsu Doan, with the many departures that would have once followed a good season no longer the norm.
That said, there will have to be some restructuring to the team as first-choice goalie Mark Flekken has left the Breisgau outfit and moved to Premier League club Brentford. His successor has been promoted from within, with Germany U21 national team goalkeeper Noah Atubolu the new first choice between the sticks at Freiburg. He is thus following in the footsteps of TSG captain Oliver Baumann, who once trod the same path from the SC Freiburg youth set-up and is now among the Bundesliga's top 40 appearance-makers of all time. Atubolu, meanwhile, will be making his top-flight debut on Saturday.
Back-up goalie Florian Müller aside, Freiburg have made only one external new signing to date: forward Junior Adamu has arrived from RB Salzburg and will replace Nils Petersen, who hung up his boots in the summer. But the Austrian with Nigerian roots will miss out through injury on Saturday.
Christian Streich, who is about to start his 12th Bundesliga season on the Dreisam, praised TSG at the matchday press conference. "Thanks to the signing of Wout Weghorst, Hoffenheim are able to cross from anywhere. That doesn't make them less dangerous. It will be a very difficult and complicated match for us. I hope that we perform in such a way on the pitch that it's difficult for Hoffenheim."