Borussia Monchengladbach vs SC Freiburg Preview

Borussia Monchengladbach winger Patrick Herrmann is hoping for a “perfect start” to the second half of the season when they host Freiburg on Tuesday night, although he has warned at the same time not to under-estimate the Baden-Wurttemberg side.

Thanks to Herrmann’s goal, Gladbach picked up a 1-0 win at Stuttgart on Saturday and another win would cement their place in the top four.

Freiburg went into the second half of the season bottom of the Bundesliga, but their 4-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt is an adequate warning for Herrmann.

“On paper, everybody will be expecting us to win,” he said on his club’s website. “But Freiburg have always made life hard for us down the years.

“Even when we drew 0-0 with them in the reverse fixture, they made us work very hard.

“They are a tough nut to crack, particularly since they have just beaten Frankfurt 4-1.

“That doesn’t make our task any easier, yet we’re still aiming for a win at home in front of our own fans because that would really be a perfect start to the second half of the season.”

Gladbach coach Lucien Favre said prior to his side’s trip to Stuttgart at the weekend that he would have to rotate his team over the course of the week and some changes can therefore be expected to his starting XI.

One alteration is almost obligatory for Freiburg coach Christian Streich, who will find it hard to keep Nils Petersen out of his starting XI after he sprang from the bench to score a hat-trick against Frankfurt.

“Even more than his goals, I was delighted by the exemplary way he played,” said Streich of his winter recruit from Werder Bremen.

“He accepted his role as a substitute and then concentrated on his duties on the field, and then just scored goals.”