Bayern Munich vs Freiburg preview, H2H, team news, line-ups and prediction

Vincent Kompany will savour the chance to record his first victory at home in front of the Bavarian fans when Bayern Munich hosts Freiburg at Allianz Arena on Sunday, 1 September.

The 32-time Bundesliga champions will be eager to secure major trophies this season. Last season, Bayern fell short of winning the Bundesliga title and didn’t make a significant impact in the UEFA Champions League either.

Kompany has been off to a flying start as the boss since taking over the reins of the club in May. He has played eight matches so far including five preseason friendliness where he won four and drew one.

A sky-high 27 goals scored in preseason showed signs of what could be a high-scoring season for the Bavarians as they look to reclaim the Bundesliga title after being trumped by a flawless Leverkusen side to clinch the Bundesliga.

They have also bolstered their squad with adequate reinforcements that will strengthen various positions in the team. Therefore, it’s no surprise that fans with Bayern Munich tickets are excited for the season ahead.

With Leon Goretzka facing an uncertain feature at Allianz Arena, long-term target João Palhinha was brought in from Premier League side, Fulham to fill the defensive midfield role while Japanese centre-back, Hiroki Ito was signed from Stuttgart as centre-back cover.

Bayern also beat competition from a host of clubs including Chelsea and Manchester United to sign Michael Olise from Crystal Palace and the Frenchman is already impressing so far.

The Bavarians began their campaign officially in the DFB Cup where they completely blew aside the Bundesliga second division side, Ulm, 4-0.

Bayern who currently sit at fifth place in the League standings recently faced Wolfsburg in their opening game of the 2024-25 season. It was their second clash against Die Weißgrünen in three months and the Bavarians ensured to record yet another victory against them.

Jamal Musiala’s first-half opener was cancelled by Lovro Majer early in the second half before the Croatian midfielder doubled the lead soon after to put Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side ahead at the Volkswagen Arena.

Bayern soon levelled after Jakub Kaminski inadvertently put the ball into his net before Serge Gnabry ensured all three points for Kompany’s side when he scored the winner late on.

The Belgian manager will hope to continue his winning run when they host Freiburg on Sunday.

The first few weeks have been equally impressive for Freiburg ‘s new head coach, Julian Schuster. The 39-year-old faces the challenge of filling the significant void left by Christian Streich, who ended his 12-year stint at the Schuster and has already led the team to a 4-0 Cup win over VfL Osnabrück in the DFB Cup.

Schuster’s team has been active in the summer transfer market. Hugo Siquet has returned from his loan stint at Cercle Brugge, while Patrick Osterhage, Eren Dinkci, Jannik Huth, and Maximilian Philipp have all joined the squad at Europa-Park Stadion.

Freiburg flew to a brilliant start against last season’s surprise package, Stuttgart sustaining a long spell of pressure to hit them on the counter.

The strategy worked quite well as the Breisgau-Brasilianer secured an unexpected 3-1 victory against last season’s runners-up in the Bundesliga. This win was particularly surprising given FFreiburg ‘s current absence of several key players.

Bayern Munich Vs Freiburg match details

• Date: Sunday 1st September, 2024
• Location: Germany
• Venue: Allianz Arena
• Kick-off time: 04:30 PM BST, 03:30 PM UTC

Match stats and head-to-head

•The most frequent scoreline in matches between Bayern and Freiburg at Allianz Arena is 2-0, with this outcome occurring in four games. Across all encounters between the two teams, the 2-0 result is also the most common, having happened in eight matches.

•Freiburg have yet to secure a Bundesliga victory in 24 away games against Bayern Munich (D3, L21). Only Wolfsburg has a longer winless streak, having visited Bayern 28 times in league history without a single win.

• Throughout 51 meetings, Bayern have won 36 times, drawn 10 times, and Freiburg have managed 5 victories. The overall goal difference stands at 121-41 in Bayern’s favour.

• Bayern are currently on a six-match winning streak and are unbeaten in their last eight matches.

The Bavarians have secured 3 consecutive home victories and have not lost any of their last seven matches at home.

• Freiburg are unbeaten in their last 5 games.

•Bayern have scored in each of their last 19 games.

•Freiburg have found the net in their last 7 matches.

•Bayern have lost just 1 of their last 5 games against Freiburg across all competitions. In these 5 meetings, Bayern have won 3 times, Freiburg once, and there has been 1 draw.

•Thomas Müller set a new record for the most Bundesliga appearances for Bayern, surpassing Sepp Maier with his 474th league appearance for the club when he came off the bench as a second-half substitute against Wolfsburg.

•Freiburg’s head coach, Christian Schuster is aiming to become the first Freiburg coach to win his first two consecutive matches in the Bundesliga.

•Freiburg remained the only side in the Bundesliga last season Harry Kane failed to score against despite having ten shots against them.

Team news

Leon Goretzka is still an active member of the squad despite numerous reports linking him with a move away. He’s likely to be on the bench and it is unclear if he’ll be handed a cameo for his first appearance of the season.

The defensive duo of Tarek Buchmann and Josip Stanisic are not gained full fitnesss ahead of the clash while  Arijon Ibrahimovic and new signing, Hiroki Ito remain part of Bayern’s longest absentees.

Freiburg are currently without several key first-team players due to injury. First-choice goalkeeper, Noah Atubulu as well as centre-forward, Michael Gregoritsch and centre-back Manuel Gulde are unavailable for the match.

Daniel-Kofi Kyereh and new signing Eren Dinkçi will also be unavailable for the clash.

Freiburg are also sweating over the fitness of Ritsu Doan, Roland Sallai and Matthias Ginter and will hope the trio will return to fitness for the trip to Munich.

Leroy Sane and goalkeeper Daniel Peretz are also out due to injuries.

Predicted starting lineup

Bayern Munich predicted starting lineup:

Neuer; Boey, Kim, Upamecano, Davies; Kimmich, Palhinha; Olise, Musiala, Tel; Kane.

Freiburg predicted starting lineup:

Muller; Kubler, Rosenfelder, Lienhart, Gunter; Doan, Eggestein, Osterhage, Grifo; Holer, Adamu.

Prediction

Playing against Freiburg has been a relatively comfortable fixture for Bayern over the years.

The fixture presents another opportunity for Kompany to gain maximum points in what would be another tough season for the team with Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund also competing as viable contenders for the Bundesliga.

However, Freiburg under Schuster has proven they’re capable of causing an upset having brushed aside last season’s Bundesliga runner-up, Stuttgart.

A compact defensive shape and a fast-paced attack that counters with the speed of light could test Bayern’s resolve but the Bavarians possess enough quality to gain maximum points.

We’re predicting a 2-1 win for Bayern Munich.