Bundesliga preview: The shadow of Leverkusen's defeat is still there, and the Freiburg guard has a lot of experience
6686 Sports, October 26th, Beijing time at 22:30 on October 26th, in the 8th round of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season, Leverkusen faced Freiburg at home.
After firing Ten Hag, Leverkusen gradually recovered under the leadership of new coach Jurmand. After the change of coach, it has achieved an unbeaten record of 4 wins and 1 draw in the league. Among them, the 4-3 victory over Mainz in the last round was the most typical - the frontcourt attack was sharp but the defense often failed to care about the other. They completed 18 shots in Mainz's three-second zone, but allowed their opponents to score 3 goals with 6 shots in the three-second zone.
In fact, big wins and big wins have gradually become Leverkusen's label. They have only kept one clean sheet in the last 10 games in all competitions, but they have scored first in all 7 rounds of the Bundesliga this season. However, in the Champions League where the intensity has increased sharply, Leverkusen seems to be struggling. They have drawn with Copenhagen and Eindhoven, and were beaten 7-2 by Paris Saint-Germain in the middle of this week. The defeat against Paris Saint-Germain was the first defeat in the last five home games for Pharma. Now facing Freiburg, it is worth paying attention to how Urmande and the players react after the disastrous defeat.
Freiburg has performed very steadily and has remained unbeaten in 8 consecutive games in all competitions. During this period, they won 4 games, scored 14 goals and only conceded 6 goals. They showed a good balance on both offense and defense. In the Europa League in midweek, Freiburg defeated Utrecht 2-0, and the 2-2 draw with Frankfurt last weekend was the only time in their last 8 games that their opponent scored more than 1 goal in a single game.
Facing Leverkusen on Sunday, Freiburg may hope to use set pieces to seek scoring opportunities. They have scored 6 goals through set pieces in the Bundesliga this season. Coincidentally, the home team Leverkusen is also a good player, and has even scored one more goal than Freiburg through set piece strategies.
In terms of personnel, Leverkusen midfielder Palacios is currently suffering from a groin injury, which may prompt Urmande to use Fernandez and Garcia to partner in the midfield. Kwansa, who had been sidelined due to a knee injury, has recovered and has the conditions to form a central defender partnership with Tapsoba and Andric.
For Freiburg, Kirech has been confirmed to be absent due to injury. His position is expected to be replaced by Heller, who is expected to assume the important task of organizing the attack behind Arrow Adamu. The center back combination is still Ginter and Linhardt.
The team led by Freiburg coach Schuster has not won in the past five meetings with Leverkusen, losing three of them, and is at a slight psychological disadvantage. However, after losing to Paris, Leverkusen needs to make a strong response in the league, and a narrow victory may be worth looking forward to.
