VfB Stuttgart vs. SC Freiburg DFB-Pokal preview: Team news and predicted lineups

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By Eskender Tamrat@eskeFussball

VfB Stuttgart vs. SC Freiburg DFB-Pokal preview: Team news and predicted lineups

Here's our preview for the DFB-Pokal semi-final clash of Stuttgart and Freiburg taking place on Thursday evening.

Alex Grimm/Getty Images

Holders Stuttgart host Freiburg in the second semi-final of the DFB-Pokal on Thursday. Both teams won their home games in the head-to-head Bundesliga meetings this season.

Stuttgart

The Swabians are hoping to reach the cup final in successive seasons for the first time. With the 4-2 victory over the then-3. Liga side Arminia Bielefeld, Sebastian Hoeneß’s men won the club’s fourth Pokal last term.

On Thursday, the defending champions will play their first Pokal home game since beating RB Leipzig at a similar stage last year. Stuttgart narrowly escaped a cupset at the curtain raiser in Eintracht Braunschweig with a penalty shootout win following an enthralling 4-4 draw at the end of 120 minutes

They haven’t conceded a goal since then, although only Mainz have been their Bundesliga opposition so far in the competition. The Champions League hopefuls lost their last two home games in the league to Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

Team News

Finn Jeltsch, who was subbed off at half-time against Bayern, is ruled out of the game due to an abdominal muscle injury. Deniz Undav and Ermedin Demirović, who combined for the 89th-minute winner when the two sides last met in January, will most likely return to the starting lineup on Thursday for Stuttgart. The former missed the game that confirmed Bayern as champions due to suspension, while the Bosnian striker only played the last 15 minutes.

Freiburg

Including the historic triumph in the Europa League quarter-final tie against Celta de Vigo, Julian Schuster’s side came out victorious in each of their last four games in the space of ten days. For one of the modest squads of the Bundesliga, performing at the top level in three competitions is a rare sight.

This season’s heroics continued what was brewing under Christian Streich. Since losing to Stuttgart in the second round of the 2020/21 season, this is the third Pokal semi-final appearance for Freiburg. For contrast, their only previous appearance in the last four was when they were knocked out by their Thursday opponents in 2013.

The Breisgau Brazilians are also climbing the standings in the Bundesliga, which could secure them another European adventure even if they end up not winning any of the cup competitions. The hard-fought win over bottom-placed Heidenheim saw Schuster’s men leapfrog Eintracht Frankfurt to seventh place.

Team News

Max Rosenfelder and Patrick Osterhage are the only confirmed absentees from Freiburg's traveling squad due to long-term injuries. Philipp Lienhart, Niklas Beste, and Yuito Suzuki are all expected to return to the starting lineup after coming on as late substitutes on Sunday.