SC Freiburg vs. VfL Wolfsburg preview: Eighth from top host second from bottom | OneFootball

SC FREIBURG

With three matches remaining in the 2025/26 Bundesliga season, Julian Schuster’s SC Freiburg (12-7-12, 8th) remain in the fight for a European competition spot - currently tied with Eintracht Frankfurt for the Conference League spot on 43 points but with goal differential currently in favour of Die Adler.

With this being their first time in a semifinal of a major European competition, it means that they play matches with a maximum of four days apart - and it seems to be taking a toll on their results, as all of their last three matches, in three different competitions, have ended in defeats: a DFB-Pokal semifinal exit in the final minute against VfB Stuttgart (1-2), a thrashing to Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga (0-4), and another last minute defeat in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League semifinals at the hands of Portuguese side SC Braga (1-2).

However, statistics show that the Breisgau-Brasilianer are likely to go back into the win column. Freiburg have won seven of their last ten Bundesliga matches against Wolfsburg (7-3-0), and all of their last three meetings by one-goal scorelines (3-2, 1-0, 4-3). Another thing that should be noted is Freiburg’s individual counterattack ability, as they have one more goal than Wolfsburg (42) but ten less assists (23).

Freiburg have the sixth-best home record in the Bundesliga, with 28 of their 43 points having come at Europa-Park-Stadion (8-4-3) and with a +8 goal differential (28-20). Wolfsburg, on the other hand, have an average away record, with the same amount of points as Freiburg have away this season: 15 points (4-3-8), with a -15 goal differential (20-35).

Freiburg are also the only team in the Bundesliga to go without conceding a single penalty in the 2025/26 season, with Noah Atubolu having only faced and denied one attempt from SV Werder Bremen’s Romano Schmid. On the contrary, Wolfsburg have faced eleven penalties this season, with Kamil Grabara saving seven of them, watching one go wide, and conceding the remaining three.

Team News:

German centre-back Max Rosenfelder (hamstring) will be absent from this match but is set to return next week. German defensive midfielder Patrick Osterhage and Ghanaian midfielder Daniel Kofi-Kyereh will both be absent with injuries, with their return to be on the final day of the season at the earliest.

Derry Scherhant, who was a substitute for the match in Wolfsburg back in December, is the only goalscorer from the reverse match to be included in the projected XI; Vincenzo Grifo and Philipp Treu are both expected to start on the bench.

Projected Lineup (4-2-3-1): Atubolu - Günter, Ogbus, Ginter, Kübler - Manzambi, Eggestein - Scherhant, Suzuki, Irié - Höler.

VFL WOLFSBURG

With their draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach and an FC St. Pauli loss to 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 last weekend, it means that VfL Wolfsburg (6-7-18, 17th) will not be relegated this weekend.

However, there is still a significant amount of work to do. To confirm taking the relegation battle with FC St. Pauli to the final day, Wolfsburg will need to pull off a surprise win in this match and hope that the result between St. Pauli and 1. FSV Mainz 05 at Millerntor four hours earlier goes in their favour - which would be a Mainz win or draw.

Dieter Hecking’s Wölfe have now gone two matches unbeaten (1-1-0), having picked up their first victory since mid-January in recent weeks, and they are also looking to reach two consecutive Bundesliga clean sheets for the first time since January 2023 - in which they scored 11 goals without conceding against, coincidentally, Freiburg (6-0) and Hertha BSC (5-0).

Wolfsburg have the second-most shots faced in the entire Bundesliga (165), only to Gladbach; 8 of those shots came to Freiburg in December, just under 5% of the total. In addition, Kamil Grabara has the second-most saves of any goalkeeper in the league (109), sixteen behind Gladbach goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas. Because Grabara has faced more attempts than Noah Atubolu, he has a slightly better save percentage than the 23-year-old German goalkeeper, with a 64.2% success rate compared to 63.1%.

Team News:

German defensive midfielder and captain Maximilian Arnold (groin / unknown) is officially out for the remainder of the season. Arnold had picked up a groin injury last month and was playing limited minutes as a substitute in the most recent matches, but a second injury in training this week confirms that he will not see another minute in a Wolfsburg uniform in 2025/26.

Swedish defensive midfielder Mattias Svanberg (calf) continues to recover from a injury that he also suffered in training, with his absence remaining week-to-week. German right-back Kilian Fischer (thigh), Brazilian defender Cleiton Santos (ankle), American midfielder Kevin Paredes (muscle), and Danish striker Jonas Wind (muscle) will also likely be out until the Bayern match at the earliest.

Brazilian defender Rogério (fitness) and Dutch centre-back Jenson Seelt (knee) will likely be absent until the St. Pauli match - which will likely be Seelt’s last match in a Wolfsburg uniform as he returns to Sunderland AFC following the expiry of his loan at the end of next month. Hungarian central midfielder Bence Dárdai (anterior cruciate ligament) remains absent until the 2026/27 preseason gets underway in July.

Projected Lineup (3-5-2): Grabara - Koulierakis, Vavro, Belocian - Zehnter, Eriksen, Souza, Wimmer, Mæhle - Amoura, Pejčinović.