Up front for Freiburg's first Bundesliga opponents of the season was the returning Niclas Füllkrug, who appeared determined to make his presence felt from the outset. After just 65 seconds, the forward had been involved in several physical battles with Philipp Lienhart and had twice been penalised by referee Daniel Siebert. Werder looked to play on the counter, constantly trying to make use of winger Justin Njinmah’s pace. Clearcut chances were initially few and far between at either end.

There were four changes to the side that beat Motherwell FC 4-1 in the second leg of SCF's UEFA Conference League play-off, with Lukas Kübler, who was celebrating his 34th birthday, Philipp Lienhart, Jordy Makengo and Niklas Beste coming into the starting XI. Philipp Treu, Max Rosenfelder, Christian Günter and Cyriaque Irié all started on the bench. The visitors were without several players, including Jens Stage. The midfielder suffered a muscle injury in SVW's last training session and is expected to be sidelined for several months. Eren Dinkci, who is on loan at Werder from Freiburg, was able to make the squad after recovering from muscular problems.

SC knock on the door before Suzuki heads home

Maximilian Eggestein registered the first effort of note after 19 minutes, sending a long-range strike narrowly wide of Karl Hein’s goal. SC went even closer two minutes later when Matthias Ginter headed Niklas Beste’s cross back across goal for Igor Matanovic, whose shot from close range was blocked by a defender. “I wasn’t entirely happy with how we played with the ball during the first 20 minutes. We made some unnecessary mistakes,” said Julian Schuster.

However, as in each of their first three competitive games, SC could rely on their strength from set pieces. In the 29th minute, the 1.75m-tall Yuito Suzuki rose unchallenged to meet a Beste corner and head Freiburg in front. It was already SCF’s eighth goal from a set piece in all competitions this season.

Things were about to get even better for SC. Niklas Beste first went close to making it 2-0 in the 40th minute, firing a powerful effort from distance just over the bar. Five minutes later, Igor Matanovic took aim from a similar position and found the back of the net, giving Hein no chance with a well-struck effort.

Two in the first ten minutes of the half

Beste, who had been struggling with nausea, did not come back out for the second half, with Cyriaque Irié taking his place. Little changed on the pitch. SC remained the better side and added to their lead shortly after the restart. Derry Scherhant did well to beat his man on the left before cutting the ball back for Suzuki, who finished from close range to grab his second of the afternoon (48’).

The Japan international was certainly not finished yet. Just seven minutes later, he slipped Matanovic through around 30 yards from goal, received the ball back and calmly slotted home for 4-0 and his hat-trick. Birthday boy Lukas Kübler then produced an intervention almost as valuable as a goal at the other end, stretching to nick the ball away from Füllkrug just as the striker was preparing to shoot from the centre of the box (57’).

The pace of the game dropped somewhat after that, helped in part by a series of substitutions from both sides. In front of a sell-out crowd at the Europa-Park Stadion, the away end finally had something to celebrate in the 76th minute, when substitute Dariusz Stalmach headed in a Werder corner from close range to make it 4-1. This proved to be the final addition to the scoreline. Maximilian Eggestein had SCF’s best chance to add another late on with a long-range effort (82’).

After the final whistle, head coach Julian Schuster said: “After going 1-0 up, we became more and more in control and started making better decisions on the ball. Those were the foundations for the win. After these past 14 days, I’m obviously very pleased to start the Bundesliga season in this manner.”

SC travel to promoted SC Paderborn next Saturday (15:30 CEST) for their first away game of the league season.

Photo: Stephan Eckenfels