VfL Wolfsburg vs. SC Freiburg preview: Two rising sides go head-to-head | OneFootball

VFL WOLFSBURG

In his second stint as interim coach at VfL Wolfsburg (4-3-7, 13th), Daniel Bauer has managed to bring the club four points out of the relegation zone - drawing praise from fans of the Niedersachen club and making Wolfsburg one of the potential underdog stories to keep an eye on in the Bundesliga this season.

Die Wölfe enter this match having gone unbeaten in their last three matches, with a 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt and two 3-1 wins in the last two weeks - against 1. FC Union Berlin and Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the last three matches, Wolfsburg have scored seven times (2.33 goals per match) - compared to thirteen in the first thirteen matches of the season (1.00 goals per match).

Everything seems to be clicking at a time when the club really needed it. Patrick Wimmer scored half of these goals, with dominant performances and a constant presence around the opposing goal after returning from international duty - where he helped Austria to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Mohamed Amoura, who will face Wimmer and Austria in the World Cup, is thriving in the striker position again - constantly finding open spaces in the centre of the box, including one-on-ones.

New signings Christian Eriksen and Saël Kumbedi are supplying through balls and crosses along the right side, and Aaron Zehnter is doing the same on the left. Jenson Seelt has overtaken Moritz Jenz at RCB and solidified his status as a quality option for the main XI, with Denis Vavro also making his return to the squad following a groin injury suffered in the DFB-Pokal match with SV Hemelingen in August.

As coach of the U19 team, Bauer has been with some of the academy talents that he is promoting to the bench, and could also potentially put them in the main squad down the road. 18-year-old right-back Jan Bürger, who performed well in said DFB-Pokal match, got some playing time in the match with Union Berlin - and 18-year-old midfielder Pharrell Hensel also got some playing time. 18-year-old German centre-back Till Neininger and 17-year-old Finnish winger Bruno Katz could also get playing time, as they have been on the bench on occasion.

The only concern potentially affecting the team going into this match is whether they can sustain momentum in the last ten minutes. Seven of the twenty-four goals that they have conceded have come in the eightieth minute or later - causing the club to throw away four potential victories (0-3-1).

While only one of these results was in Bauer’s tenure, Wolfsburg continue to let their opponents gain momentum from 70. minute onward - this is something that will especially need to be addressed by the tenth of January, as Wolfsburg open the new year with a tough matchup against league leaders FC Bayern München.

Team News:

Despite recent results being better than expected, the injury list is still quite lengthy. The current total of injured players is six, but five of them are currently projected to return in the middle of January.

Brazilian left-back Rogério (muscle), Danish wing-back / midfielder Joakim Mæhle (shoulder), American right midfielder Kevin Paredes (ankle), Danish right winger / right midfielder Andreas Skov Olsen (muscle), and Danish striker Jonas Wind (hip) are all out of consideration for the main squad until mid-January. The only lengthy injury is to Germany-born Hungarian midfielder Bence Dárdai (cruciate ligament), who is currently projected not to return back to the training ground until July of next year.

Mohamed Amoura will be absent from the match due to representing Algeria at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, which begins on Sunday. Algeria will play their first match in Group E on Wednesday, 16:00 (CET) against Sudan.

Projected XI (4-2-3-1): Grabara - Zehnter, Koulierakis, Seelt, Kumbedi - Arnold, Gerhardt - Wimmer, Majer, Eriksen - Pejčinović.

SC FREIBURG

On the other side of the field are SC Freiburg (4-5-5, 9th), who, like Wolfsburg, had some concerning performances in the first few weeks of the season - but quickly bounced back and now find themselves in the middle of the table. Unlike Wolfsburg, Julian Schuster’s side are actively in European competition this season, among the top five in the UEFA Europa League table with an undefeated 4-2-0 record and a +6 goal differential (9-3).

The Baden-Württemberg side picked up a 1-0 victory against Austrian side RB Salzburg last week, in which they statistically dominated from start to finish - and followed it up with a respectable 1-1 draw against Borussia Dortmund in Bundesliga competition, outshooting BVB 17-9, 5-4 on target and holding 53% possession. In both matches, they were able to draw a red card for the visitors, and played at least a half-hour with an 11v10 advantage.

Schuster’s side is more attacking-based, but also play a more team-oriented type of football - and this definitely reflects in the list of top scorers. Vincenzo Grifo is their penalty taker and thus their main goalscorer, having scored twice from the spot of the four that he has in this campaign; however, Johan Manzambi does not trail too far behind, with three - two of which were scored in defeats to Heidenheim (1-2) and Bayern (2-6) and the other in a 4-0 rout of Mainz.

Striker Lukas Höler is the player to watch for this match, however; he has been on the scoresheet twice in Freiburg’s last four matches in all competitions, both of which have come in the last 30 minutes of the match - the same point of the match when Wolfsburg are typically at their weakest. He does not need too much space to launch a decent shot, as was evident with his acrobatic equaliser against Dortmund last weekend - and could have a dangerous net-front presence as a result.

Team News:

Freiburg have five players potentially / certainly ruled out for this weekend’s match. The potential absences are German right winger Jan-Nikolas Beste (flu), who is not expected to recover for a few more days, and German attacking midfielder / winger Eren Dinkçi (muscle), who continues to be evaluated but is doubtful to start. Austrian centre-back Philipp Lienhart (groin), who scored the deciding goal against Salzburg, will be absent until the middle of January, and the same timeframe goes for German centre-back Max Rosenfelder (hamstring). Ghanaian central midfielder Daniel-Kofi Kyereh (cruciate ligament), who has not played since 2023, is currently expected to return to the training ground in late January.

Projected XI (4-2-3-1): Atubolu - Treu, Jung, Ginter, Kübler - Osterhage, Eggestein - Grifo, Suzuki, Manzambi - Höler.