Despite not being the most high-profile match, both sets of players ensured that the game got off to a lightning-fast start. It only took Freiburg 150 seconds to open the scoring, as Maximilian Breunig headed home from a Christian Günter free-kick. SCF’s U23 striker has bagged seven goals in his last five 3. Liga games. The away side were not fazed by going behind early on, however. They hit back with their first attack of the match, with Christian Witzig levelling things up just after the four-minute mark.
SC were missing nine players to international duty, while seven other members of the senior team were also unavailable. Manuel Gulde, Matthias Ginter, Kenneth Schmidt, Chicco Höfler, Noah Weißhaupt, Maximilian Philipp and Lucas Höler all sat out of the friendly against the Swiss Super League side. Christian Streich’s men played out an entertaining back-and-forth first half with Gallen, as both sides had opportunities to take the lead. Yannik Keitel had the best chances for SCF – his long-range effort flew just over the bar after ten minutes and he headed just wide 12 minutes later.
SCF restored their one-goal advantage just before the break. Christian Günter played a ball through to Junior Adamu, who slipped his marker in the box and scored to put Freiburg 2-1 up heading into half-time.
SC came out for the second half with an unchanged side and, just as in the first period, Maximilian Breunig found himself at the centre of the opening exchanges. After Vincenzo Grifo won possession high up the pitch, Breunig was fouled in the 18-yard box, with Junior Adamu converting the resulting penalty.
After a long spell on the sidelines, Max Rosenfelder marked his comeback by coming on for the closing stages to make his debut for the first team. With ten minutes left on the clock, Ryan Johansson scored the final goal of the afternoon from a Jordy Makengo assist.
“We had some players missing, but that was the case for St. Gallen as well,” said Christian Streich after the match. “The boys on the pitch got stuck in. It was a good test for us.” SC’s next competitive game will see them visit Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga on Saturday, 30th March at 15:00 CET.
Today’s Freiburg team: Müller – Kübler, Lang, Makengo, Günter (Rosenfelder 73’) – Johansson, Keitel, Eggestein, Grifo (Sturm 73’) – Adamu (Schopper 80’), Breunig
Goals: 1-0 Breunig (3’), 1-1 Witzig (5’), 2-1 Adamu (40’), 3-1 Adamu (54’, P), 4-1 Johansson (80’)
Officials: Brombacher / Wilke / Bugglin
Photo: SC Freiburg