Bayer Leverkusen vs SC Freiburg preview - Leverkusen focus on domestic form

Victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday has already been forgotten about by Bayer Leverkusen, who return to playing catch-up in the Bundesliga this weekend.

Strugglers Freiburg are the visitors to the BayArena and what will certainly be a different type of opponent does not necessarily make them any easier to beat, even if Leverkusen have just defeated the Spanish champions.

"That was good for us, especially after the two or three weeks we've had which were not so positive," said Lars Bender.

"A game like that gives you self-confidence and I hope that will also give us a lift for the upcoming challenges we have, starting against Freiburg."

Leverkusen have won just two of their last eight Bundesliga matches and, as a result, have slipped to sixth in the standings, two points behind Schalke in fourth and four adrift of third-placed Borussia Monchengladbach and a place in the group stage of the Champions League next season.

"We've not been rewarding ourselves enough in the Bundesliga lately," Bender said.

"We showed here what we've got to do to win important games and now we've got to repeat that against Freiburg."

Freiburg will be looking to repeat performances against Eintracht Frankfurt and Hertha Berlin, as well as the one in last weekend's draw with Hoffenheim as they aim to lift themselves out of the bottom three.

"It may not be such a bad thing for us that Leverkusen had an important game in the Champions League in midweek," said midfielder Felix Klaus on his club's website. "Although I'm sure the tactics they chose against Atletico will be different to the ones they employ against us.

"They have some really good individual players who can do something at any time. If we don't all give 100 per cent then it's not going to be enough."

After facing Leverkusen, Freiburg have a midweek match of their own against Cologne in the DFB-Pokal, although getting three points on Saturday has got to be their priority.

"Of course I'm looking forward to both games, but our focus is fully on Saturday and the Leverkusen game," Klaus added.

"If we get a good result there, then we can turn our attention to the cup game."