VfL Bochum will welcome Freiburg to the Ruhrstadion on Wednesday for their DFB-Pokal quarter-final tie.
The two Bundesliga outfits have each progressed past three sides to reach the final eight, with the hosts most recently dumping out Mainz while their visitors thrashed Hoffenheim.
Match preview
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Bochum kicked off their cup campaign with a trip to fourth-tier Wuppertaler SV, and they survived a scare, eventually winning 2-1 after extra time, before triumphing in a penalty shootout following a 2-2 draw at home to Augsburg in October.
Thomas Reis's side were most recently drawn against Mainz in the round of 16, and, despite falling behind in the first half, a Milos Pantovic brace and an Eduard Lowen goal ensured they progressed with a 3-1 victory.
Now with a place in the quarter-finals for the first time since the 2015-16 season, Die Unabsteigbaren come into Wednesday's meeting in a difficult run of form, having won just two of their last 10 league games after initially making a strong start to the Bundesliga campaign.
On the back of a narrow defeat to RB Leipzig at the weekend, Reis's men will look to reverse their fortunes with a victory to reach the semi-finals.
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They welcome a Freiburg side who also had a tricky start to their cup run, firstly scraping past Wurzburger Kickers before prevailing in a penalty shootout following a 2-2 draw with third-tier Osnabruck.
In their round-of-16 tie with Hoffenheim, Christian Streich's side put in a far more dominant display, as they dispatched the fellow Bundesliga outfit with a 4-1 away win thanks to Vincenzo Grifo's brace and goals from Kevin Schade and Ermedin Demirovic.
Now in their 10th season under Streich's management, the Breisgau-Brasilianer are enjoying a stellar Bundesliga campaign, currently sitting fifth after 24 outings with 40 points, just five fewer than they amassed in the entirety of last term.
They head into the quarter-final on the back of consecutive top-flight wins, having firstly beaten Augsburg 2-1 before thrashing Hertha Berlin 3-0 at the weekend with Grifo, Schade and Lucas Holer on the scoresheet.
The Breisgau-Brasilianer will now look to add a place in the DFB-Pokal semi-final to their strong season before continuing a push for a top-four finish.
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Team News
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Bochum's only absentee should be forward Simon Zoller, who continues to recover from an injury.
Sebastian Polter should continue to lead the line, having netted seven Bundesliga goals so far this season.
Elvis Rexhbecaj and veteran Anthony Losilla have been relative mainstays in the midfield throughout the season, and they will again operate in the engine room on Wednesday.
Freiburg will enter the tie without young midfielder Yannik Keitel, who is condemned to the treatment room.
While Freiburg have not had a standout scorer this term, Vincenzo Grifo and Lucas Holer each have five league goals to their names, while wingers Jeong Woo-yeong and Kevin Schade have each scored four in the Bundesliga, giving Streich options for his front line.
VfL Bochum possible starting lineup:
Riemann; Gamboa, Bella-Kotchap, Leitsch, Soares; Lowen, Losilla, Rexhbecaj; Asano, Polter, Pantovic
Freiburg possible starting lineup:
Flekken; Kubler, Lienhart, Schlotterbeck, Gunter; Eggestein, Hofler; Jeong, Demirovic, Grifo; Holer
We say: VfL Bochum 1-2 Freiburg
Freiburg have been the stronger side over the course of the campaign, and we give them the narrow edge heading into Wednesday's cup tie.
Both teams will certainly be desperate to progress, and, with home advantage, Bochum will be no pushovers, but Streich has a strong squad playing at the peak of their powers, and they will be confident of getting over the line.
Top tip
Sam Varley
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Freiburg win with a probability of 45.67%. A win for VfL Bochum had a probability of 30.64% and a draw had a probability of 23.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Freiburg win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.23%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.05%) and 0-2 (6.83%). The likeliest VfL Bochum win was 2-1 (7.35%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.87%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 9.2% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted a 1-2 win for Freiburg in this match.
