Bundesliga: Dortmund take on Freiburg as Bayern face a tricky opponents Koln

(Football news) Bayern will look to bounce back from their disappointing loss against Monchengladbach as they will face Koln. The reigning champions began 2022 looking to comfortably win their 10th-successive Bundesliga title, with the Bavarians returning from the winter break with a nine-point lead over Borussia Dortmund.

The shock defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach along with Dortmund's incredible 3-2 comeback win at Eintracht Frankfurt meant that their lead had been cut to just six points at the midway stage of the season. With 14 wins and a draw in their last 15 competitive meetings with Koln a victory is expected out of the Bavarians but Nagelsmann’s side will be aware of the challenges his side faces against an in-form Koln who are competing for the European places also.

For Bayern, Dayot Upamecano, Alphonso Davies, Lucas Hernandez, Leroy Sane and Tanguy Nianzou are still expected to remain unavailable due to the virus. Manuel Neuer, Omar Richards, Corentin Tolisso and Kingsley Coman are all doubtful for this match.

Dortmund face Freiburg as they look to cut the gap to three points to Bayern. While Freiburg occupy fourth, seven points behind Dortmund and they too will look to take back their third spot. A record of 12 wins, one draw and five defeats has Dortmund collect 37 points, which has given them a six points cushion off third-placed Hoffenheim and also seven clear of Freiburg in fourth,. Marco Rose's side will face tough matches in the coming weeks as his side will face Hoffenheim and Leverkusen in their next two league games after this one.

They know if they are to mount a serious title challenge then they cannot afford to make too many mistakes in their pursuit of becoming champions of Germany for the first time since 2012. Dortmund’s home form has been excellent this season; they have won eight of their nine league matches at the Signal Iduna Park, but Freiburg on the other hand also have the second-best away record in the Bundesliga they have collected 15 points from nine matches as only Bayern have gathered more points on their away fixtures.

For Dortmund, Roman Burki, Manuel Akanji, Luca Unbehaun, Mateu Morey and Marcel Schmelzer are all unavailable for this important fixture. For Freiburg, Kiliann Sildillia, Mark Flekken and their star defender Nico Schlotterbeck might be available for this fixture.

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