In glorious sunshine, SC Freiburg welcomed FC Luzern to the training pitch next to the Europa-Park Stadium for a friendly on Saturday afternoon. The visitors, currently sixth in the Swiss Super League table, have started the season with 12 points from nine matches.

Some of SC’s players are still away on international duty, meaning the starting XI looked a little different than usual. Jannik Huth played in goal behind a back four of Lukas Kübler, Matthias Ginter, Max Rosenfelder and Christian Günter. Rihito Yamamoto started alongside Patrick Osterhage in central midfield. Cyriaque Irié, Niklas Beste and Vincenzo Grifo lined up behind the lone striker, Lucas Höler, with Beste frequently taking on the central role.
A header from Irié (3’) and a long-range shot from Beste (8’) almost gave Freiburg an early lead. Just after the ten-minute mark, Ruben Dantas Fernandes cleared off the line with keeper Karlo Letica beaten. Just a minute later, the Freiburg veteran did get his goal. After a lovely through ball from Yamamoto, the German-Italian curled the ball into the far corner in typical Grifo fashion.

Despite SC clearly being the better team in the opening stages, FC Luzern were able to equalise with their first real chance of the game. A shot from Lars Villiger was deflected, making it unstoppable for Huth and finding the back of the net to make it 1-1 (18’).

Höler scores a header

Beste kept switching positions, popping up on the left and right, and it was from the latter side that he set up Freiburg’s second goal. He found Höler in the centre with a cross from near the byline, and the striker’s header from seven yards out found the net just inside the post (26’). At the other end, Fernandes narrowly missed the target with a shot from 20 yards (36’). Five minutes later, Irié hit the post from around 20 yards following a fine backheel lay-off from Kübler.
Nevertheless, Freiburg went into the break with a two-goal lead thanks to a throw-in involving three of Freiburg’s four defenders. Kübler launched the ball into the box, Rosenfelder flicked it on, and Ginter scored with a flying header (44’) to make the half-time score 3-1. 

Matthias Ginter and Rihito Yamamoto were subbed off at half-time, being replaced by Anthony Jung and Maximilian Eggestein. The Swiss side made changes, including in goal, with Raphael Radtke taking his place between the posts for the second half. Aurelio Oehlers, who had also come on as a substitute for the visitors, hit the side netting from a tight angle after 55 minutes.

Höler is subbed off and then back on again 

Four minutes later at the other end, Grifo poked the ball past keeper Radtke and onto the post, with Irié sending the rebound well over the bar. In the 62nd minute, a long ball by Kübler caught the visitors off guard as they pushed forward. Höler was the beneficiary, finding himself one-on-one with Radtke. He went round the keeper and slotted home to make it 4-1.
Both teams continued to make substitutions. When Irié had to come off injured after 77 minutes and Freiburg had already brought on all of their available substitutes, Höler, who had already been taken off, had to return to the pitch, playing the final quarter of an hour in Kübler’s shirt, who had also been subbed off.

Huth did well to parry a powerful shot from Joel Matuanana in the closing stages, with Oehlers sending the rebound over the empty net. Just two minutes later, Adrian Grbic made it 4-2 after he lobbed the ball over Huth following a mistake in Freiburg’s build-up play (86’). That proved to be the final goal of the game. 

“There was a lot today that we’d worked on during the week,” said Freiburg head coach Schuster. “When we put good moves together or win the ball high up the pitch, we want to make those situations count and create chances. We did that well today.”

Freiburg return to Bundesliga action on Sunday, 11th October with a home game against FC Schalke 04. 

SC Freiburg: Huth – Kübler (73’, Admomah), Ginter (46’, Jung), Rosenfelder, Günter – Yamamoto (46’, Eggestein), Osterhage – Irié (77’, Höler), Beste (68’, Tarnutzer), Grifo (68’, Zelic) – Höler (73’, Catak)

Goals: 1-0 Grifo (11’), 1-1 Villiger (18’), 2-1 Höler (26’), 3-1 Ginter (44’), 4-1 Höler (62’), 4-2 Grbic (86’)