Bayern’s recent visits to the Europa-Park Stadion have all been closely contested affairs – including 3-2, 2-1 and 1-0 wins for the visitors and a 2-2 draw – and Sunday’s meeting was to prove no different.

Julian Schuster made five changes to his starting XI from Thursday’s 3-0 defeat at AS Monaco in the UEFA Conference League. Philipp Treu, Philipp Lienhart, Patrick Osterhage, Derry Scherhant and Lucas Höler came in for Lukas Kübler, Max Rosenfelder, Yannik Engelhardt, Vincenzo Grifo and Igor Matanovic. Engelhardt was ruled out of the match with a bruised pelvis.

Bayern were also missing several regulars, including Manuel Neuer, Aleksandar Pavlovic, Joshua Kimmich and Luis Diaz, as well as head coach Vincent Kompany, who had collapsed during training on Friday.

His assistant Aaron Danks watched on – as did a sell-out crowd of 34,700 at the Europa-Park Stadion – as both sides made a cautious start. The game then burst into life in the 16th minute.

After SC lost possession on the edge of their own penalty area, Mio Backhaus had to turn away a dangerous cross from Konrad Laimer. Freiburg then broke forward and Niklas Beste saw a shot from a promising position blocked, but Bayern immediately launched their own counterattack, which saw them take the lead. Michael Olise slipped a through ball into the path of Dayot Upamecano, who raced clear from the halfway line before slotting past Backhaus. “Ideally, you either score in that situation or the ball goes out for a goal kick. Otherwise, you’re taking a risk, especially against a side with that kind of quality,” said Julian Schuster after the game.

Gnabry doubles Bayern’s lead before the break

As they had done in the previous meeting between the two sides, SCF at times employed man-to-man marking. Matthias Ginter even found himself in Bayern’s penalty area on occasion, following Harry Kane as the striker dropped deep to collect the ball. The visitors looked particularly dangerous when Freiburg gave away possession, frequently trying their luck from distance.

Backhaus was alert to efforts from the edge of the area by Olise (24’) and Nathaniel Brown (34’). At the other end, Upamecano blocked Höler’s effort from a promising position after a lay-off from Beste (22’), while Suzuki fired well wide from distance (30’).

Just as it looked like Bayern would only take a slender lead into half time, Germany's record champions stepped it up a gear. Brown and Serge Gnabry combined with a one-two down the left before the latter found the net from a tight angle to make it 2-0 (42’). Höler almost pulled one back on the stroke of half time, spotting Urbig well out of his goal and attempting to lob him from the halfway line (45+3’). His effort sailed just over the bar, however, leaving Freiburg two goals behind at the break.

Yamamoto makes competitive debut

Freiburg came out strongly after half time but initially struggled to turn their pressure into clear-cut chances. Schuster introduced Igor Matanovic and Rihito Yamamoto in the 57th minute, with the latter making his competitive debut for the club. Just two minutes after coming on, Matanovic tested Urbig with a low shot from around 23 yards. At the other end, Backhaus kept Freiburg in the contest with saves from fellow substitute Ismael Saibari (62’) and Brown (69’).

Backhaus continued to impress with his quick reflexes, producing two fine saves in quick succession in the 81st minute. First, he denied Kane from around 15 yards before keeping out Saibari’s follow-up from the centre of the box. Those stops kept Freiburg’s hopes alive, and the hosts pulled a goal back almost immediately. Makengo powered his way past several defenders down the left and drilled a cutback into the box, which Tom Bischof diverted into his own net (82’).

With the home crowd now even more vocal, Freiburg threw everything forward in search of an equaliser. Grifo’s free kick from around 24 yards hit the wall (83’), before Urbig denied Matanovic and Irié from close range after a pass from Suzuki (86’). Further headed efforts from Matanovic (87’) and Ginter (89’, 90’+1) also failed to find the net. Instead, Bayern had the final say in the fifth minute of added time, as Olise tackled Backhaus some distance from the SC goal and rolled the ball into the net from almost 40 yards.

“The team managed to stay in the game, and we came very close to scoring a second goal towards the end,” said Julian Schuster at the post-match press conference. “It was important to me that we showed a reaction after Thursday, and we certainly did that.” SCF are back in action on Wednesday in the second round of the DFB-Pokal, when they welcome VfL Wolfsburg to the Europa-Park Stadion (18:00 CET).

Photo: Achim Keller