Daily Times

BERLIN: Freiburg face the acid test of their unbeaten record in the Bundesliga on Saturday at league leaders Bayern Munich, where they have never won in Germany’s top flight. Third-placed Freiburg, from Germany’s picturesque Black Forest, are the only Bundesliga club still boasting an undefeated run after eleven rounds. A win at Munich’s Allianz Arena would put them level on 25 points with Bayern, yet Freiburg head coach Christian Streich is relaxed ahead of his 300th game on the bench in Germany’s top flight. Streich is one of the Bundesliga’s characters, just as likely to discusses politics or current affairs with his players as tactics and fitness. Freiburg have taken 13 points from the past five league games and conceded a Bundesliga-wide low of just seven goals all season.

Bayern have scored a league-record 38 goals in their opening 10 games, 12 of which were scored by star striker Robert Lewandowski. The Poland star marked his 100th Champions League appearance Tuesday with a hat-trick in the 5-2 drubbing of Benfica. Freiburg’s all-time record scorer Nils Petersen, who hit 96 goals in 219 games, is sidelined by a knee injury. The current team has no stand out star, but striker Lucas Hoeller, midfielders Vincenzo Grifo and South Korean international Jeong Woo-Yeong are joint top-scorers with three league goals each. A top four finish would mean a first Champions League appearance next season in the club’s history.

Key facts

21 ––– matches for Freiburg at Bayern Munich, where the visitors have never won, including 18 defeats and three draws.

101 ––– Bundesliga goals Marco Reus has scored for Borussia Dortmund, needing one more to claim fourth spot in the club’s list of all-time scorers. Current sports director Michael Zorc is second with 131.

3 ––– consecutive home defeats for RB Leipzig against Dortmund, who they have beaten just once at the Red Bull Arena. Leipzig’s sole home win over Dortmund was in September 2016, when the Saxony club hosted their first ever Bundesliga match having climbed up from the fifth tier.

Fixtures (all times 1430GMT unless stated)

Friday

Mainz 05 v Bor. Moenchengladbach (1930)

Saturday

Bayern Munich v Freiburg, VfL Wolfsburg v Augsburg, VfB Stuttgart v Arminia Bielefeld, VfL Bochum v Hoffenheim, RB Leipzig v Borussia Dortmund (1730)

Sunday

Hertha Berlin v Bayer Leverkusen, Cologne v Union Berlin (1630), Greuther Fuerth v Eintracht Frankfurt (1830).