Bayer Leverkusen vs Freiburg prediction 18.10.2026 | Bundesliga

After finishing sixth in the Bundesliga last season, Bayer Leverkusen are determined to return among the country's best teams and secure another Champions League appearance. After the first five league rounds, Carles Martinez's team has collected ten points and trails the league leaders, Freiburg and Borussia Dortmund, by three points. Bayer Leverkusen are in excellent form with four consecutive victories across all competitions. In the previous game, they won 4-0 on the road in the Europa League against Lech Poznan. The visitors dominated, and they never left the outcome in doubt.

Bayer Leverkusen's head coach, Carles Martinez, was delighted with Thursday's win in Poland. He stated, "We managed the game well, attacked the spaces from left to right, and looked for the things we had spoken about beforehand. We started well and finished well."

Martin Terrier suffered an injury against Lech and will likely skip Sunday's game. The winger will join Christian Kofane, Guela Doue, Eliesse Ben Seghir, and Kennet Eichhorn, who are already unavailable, while Montrell Culbreath is questionable.

Freiburg are excellent so far this season. They have four wins and one draw in five Bundesliga rounds and share the top spot in the standings with Borussia Dortmund. Freiburg face a tough schedule in the next few weeks, and those matches will show whether they are really that good. Julian Schuster's team have won eight of nine matches this season in all competitions. In the previous game, Freiburg won 3-2 at home in the Conference League against Jablonec. The hosts didn't dominate, but they were good enough to secure another victory.

Freiburg didn't dominate in the previous match, but Julian Schuster still sees positives in it. He commented, "It's perhaps a good thing that we experienced this. It's the details that matter because we also want to use these games to improve."

Freiburg will be without Yuito Suzuki, Florent Muslija, Patrick Osterhage, and Rihito Yamamoto at BayArena, while Berkay Yilmaz is questionable.