It's getting full again.

The interruption that was necessary for the last international break of the year is coming to an end.

This weekend the Bundesliga starts its final spurt before Christmas.

Eintracht has to play away at SC Freiburg on matchday 12.

Since the start of the game is only scheduled for Sunday (3:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and at DAZN), there is a little more time to prepare.

At the same time, the scope will become narrower if things continue internationally in the coming week.

The second meeting with Antwerp is on the agenda in seven days.

Marc Heinrich

Sports editor.

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But in the Europa League, the Frankfurters are already certain of progress, so coach Oliver Glasner would do well to focus on the requirements in the Bundesliga.

With only twelve points, Eintracht is still in the uncomfortable part of the ranking.

Thanks to the success in Fürth (2: 1), the team at least gained a little distance to the relegation region, but still has to fear that a defeat in Breisgau will cause them to be stuck in the middle again.

The sports club as their upcoming opponent has so far experienced a season that is much more glamorous than that of the Frankfurt team: The team of coach Christian Streich had to admit defeat for the first time at 1: 2 in Munich at the beginning of November.

She is currently in third place.

In addition, the sports club has been unbeaten in nine Bundesliga home games.

With nine goals conceded, Freiburg also has the most stable defense at the moment.

For comparison: The Hessians, who only got three points twice, scored twelve goals out of 150 shots on goal and conceded 16.

"2021 has been phenomenal so far"

Maintaining a more balanced relationship between stability in defense and offensive penetration is one of the focal points of the work that Glasner attaches great importance to in the practice units like on Wednesday. Gonçalo Paciência was one of them again. Three weeks after his muscle injury, the striker joins in again. What Glasner can also encourage is a look at the archive: Freiburg only won one of the past eight league games against Eintracht. Otherwise, four Hessian victories and three draws speak for themselves.

A few Glasner players returned from trips to their national teams with building experiences, which the coach hopes could also reflect on their performances in the Eintracht jersey. One of the winners is Kristijan Jakic, who won Group H of the World Cup qualification with the Croatian selection. The 24-year-old should also be in the defensive midfield in Freiburg. So far, the robust duel has fulfilled expectations and stands out from the circle of entrants who by no means all kept what Eintracht expected of them. Jakic said that 2021 has been "phenomenal" for him so far.

First the move from Zagreb, then the conquest of a regular place at Glasner and now - as a temporary high point - the nice development, the qualification with his home country for the title fights in Qatar. Jakic said of himself that he was “a great optimist”, which is why he also endeavored to design all upcoming tasks with unity in such a way that the latest trend, which resulted in a happy ending three times in a row, continues: “On I would love to win all the games, ”said Jakic, looking ahead to what will come to an end with the Rhine-Main duel against Mainz shortly before Christmas Eve.

In principle, he doesn't like to deal with the competition, but rather looks at himself above all else.

There is still a lot to do, as he self-critically noted, especially his tactical discipline should be improved;

and besides, he wanted to separate himself from the ball faster after he captured the ball, so Glasner told him to do so in order to avoid running into counterattack.

“I'm not at 100 percent yet,” said Jakic.

Like so many others, he was last in the unity jersey.

This is one of the reasons why they are competing as outsiders in Freiburg for the first time in a long time.