Hamburg Host Freiburg in 33. Bundesliga-Spieltags Clash at Volksparkstadion — Hamburg Vs Freiburg
Hamburg vs Freiburg lands on Sunday at the Volksparkstadion with HSV closing their home season on the 33. Bundesliga-Spieltags. Hamburger SV will celebrate relegation survival in front of their fans, and Merlin Polzin said he will not soften the approach despite that cushion.
Polzin made the tone plain before kickoff: "Wir werden die Startelf ins Rennen schicken, bei der wir die größte Überzeugung haben, dass wir das Spiel gewinnen werden". That comes with a club milestone in sight for Hamburg, giving the final home match a sharper edge than the table alone would suggest.
Polzin's selection call
Robert Glatzel will miss the match with a calf strain, and Polzin drew a hard line on that situation: "Da werden wir kein Risiko mehr eingehen". Miro Muheim is listed as doubtful after the ankle injury he picked up in the North derby in Bremen around three weeks ago, although he returned to partial team training on Friday.
The coach was equally direct about Muheim's status: "Es wird eng". For HSV, that leaves the selection picture tighter than the setting on Sunday might imply, even with survival already secured and the final home date in the books.
Freiburg's Europa run
Freiburg arrive with a different kind of pressure. They reached the Europa League final on Thursday after beating SC Braga 3-1 at home, and they will face Aston Villa on 20. Mai.
Polzin greeted that run with a long salute: "Wir schicken ganz viele Glückwunsche nach Freiburg. Meinen größten Respekt davor, was sie geschafft haben – das waren fantastische Spiele im Halbfinale, generell ist es eine fantastische Saison in Europa. Wir drücken die Daumen fürs Finale, damit die Reise am 20. Mai ein schönes Ende findet". If Freiburg win that final, they would play in the Champions League for the first time next season.
Schuster's league record
Julian Schuster took over as Freiburg coach in summer 2024 from Christian Streich, and his first season has been relentless by the numbers: 25 wins and 10 draws in 51 competitive matches. Under him, Freiburg have not lost more than two-thirds of their matches.
Schuster also knows HSV well from both sides of the touchline. He played 242 matches for Freiburg between 2008 and 2018, faced Hamburg 11 times as a player with four wins, four draws and three losses, and his two previous games against HSV as head coach were the first-leg match of this season and the second-round DFB Cup match in October.
For Freiburg, Sunday sits between two targets: the Volksparkstadion visit and the European final that could change their route into next season. If they do not win in Europe, they would currently go into the Conference League qualification round because of seventh place in the league, so the league result in Hamburg sits inside a much larger week for Schuster's side.
