Borussia Dortmund host Freiburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday with both teams level on points heading into the encounter.
Dortmund are sitting one place above Freiburg inside the Champions League qualification spots by virtue of having a superior goal difference, meaning that the visitors must win if they are to leapfrog their opponents.
Match preview
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After losing their last two matches prior to the World Cup starting in November, Dortmund have returned to action with some form to win each of their three league games.
Giovanni Reyna scored two late winners to provide his team with an additional four points combined against Augsburg and Mainz 05, but Edin Terzic's side secured a much more comfortable victory away to Bayer Leverkusen last weekend.
Their opponents had won five straight league games prior to hosting BVB, but Karim Adeyemi's 33rd-minute strike against the run of play gave the visitors something to hold onto, before an Edmond Tapsoba own goal eight minutes after the break doubled their lead.
In truth, Leverkusen played the more positive football across the course of the encounter, but having been on the other end of those types of matches on countless occasions in recent years, Terzic will not care at all that his team are finding new ways to grind out victories.
With his side only three points behind league leaders Bayern Munich prior to this weekend's action, the 40-year-old will be determined to see his side maintain their winning streak on Saturday, and move three points clear of a potential top-four rival in the process.
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Freiburg, meanwhile, secured their first win of the calendar year with a 3-1 victory against Augsburg at Europa-Park Stadion last weekend.
Christian Streich's side had been battered 6-0 by Wolfsburg in their first game back after the World Cup before claiming a respectable 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt, so the club's long-serving manager will have been delighted to see his team return to winning ways against their struggling opponents.
In fairness to the visitors, they dominated the shot count, possession and amount of corners during the game, but Freiburg always looked the more threatening team on the pitch. Forwards Michael Gregoritsch and Lucas Holer got themselves back among the goals in the first half, before Philipp Lienhart's late header wrapped up all three points for his team.
With his team through to the latter stages of the DFB-Pokal and the Europa League, Streich will be determined to make this season a historic one for the club after narrowly missing out on Germany's domestic cup and a top-four finish in the previous campaign.
Given the amount of high-quality teams finding their stride at this crucial stage of the season, though, Breisgau-Brasilianer may need to win matches against direct opponents such as Dortmund if they are to secure a place in the Champions League for the first time in their history.
Team News
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Dortmund will be without the suspended Salih Ozcan, who received his fifth booking of the season during his side's win against Leverkusen last time out.
Marco Reus returned from injury to make an appearance from the substitutes' bench against Alonso's side and he could replace Ozcan to start behind Sebastien Haller, who made his first start for the club after recovering from surgery to remove a testicular tumour, meaning a deeper midfield role for England international Jude Bellingham.
Thomas Meunier, Mateu Morey and Abdoulaye Kamara are all expected to remain sidelined, while Reyna's wait for a place in his manager's starting XI may go on despite his recent goalscoring heroics.
Freiburg, meanwhile, will travel with a fully-fit squad should Roland Sallai shake off his recent muscle injury as expected. If so, the Hungary winger may be eased into action from the bench.
Nicolas Hofler will almost certainly displace Yannik Keitel in the engine room after missing his side's recent win through suspension, while Vincenzo Grifo could start in place of Holer in order to provide more pace and dribbling ability in transition.
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Ryerson, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro; Can, Bellingham; Brandt, Reus, Adeyemi; Haller
Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Flekken; Kubler, Ginter, Lienhart; Sildillia, Eggestein, Hofler, Gunter; Doan, Gregoritsch, Grifo
We say: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Freiburg
Both teams will head into this encounter with plenty of confidence having secured comfortable victories last weekend, and it is certainly a difficult one to predict given that they are level on points before a ball is kicked on Saturday.
Dortmund look to have gone up a level since returning after the World Cup, though, and playing on home territory should help them get over the line against a top-four competitor.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Brett Curtis
