“Evenly matched meetings”

After Saturday’s pulsating Supercup clash with double winners Bayer Leverkusen ended in painful fashion, VfB turned their full attention towards the start of the new Bundesliga season. Sebastian Hoeneß’s side, who finished runners-up in 2023/24, will hope to pick up where they left off last term when they kick off their campaign with a trip to Freiburg. “Our meetings with Freiburg have often been evenly matched in recent years,” said defender Pascal Stenzel. “We’ll try to build on our performances against them last season and get the three points.”

Playing against his former employers has “become normal” for former Freiburg man Stenzel, who is now entering his sixth season as a VfB player. The teams’ latest encounter will be a special one, though, with Julian Schuster taking charge of Freiburg in the top flight for the first time after Christian Streich called time on his 13-year stint as head coach at the end of last season. Schuster played for VfB between 2005 and 2008 before moving to the Freiburg, where he remained until retiring in 2018. “After an era like that, it’s hard to gauge how the team will perform,” added Stenzel. “But I spent time on the pitch with ‘Schusti’ and I doubt the club’s DNA will be lost on him.”