The players involved in the second game were the first to try out the new hybrid pitch at the Europa-Park Stadion, as were referee Martin Wilke and his assistants, who had also officiated the opening friendly. Strasbourg made the brighter start on a surface featuring millions of artificial fibres woven into the natural grass and put the Freiburg defence under pressure. However, SC’s first attack after eight minutes came down the right and ended with the opening goal. Niklas Beste was brought down after a run down the wing and then delivered the resulting free-kick onto the head of Lucas Höler, who made it 1-0.

The Ligue 1 side continued to push forward after falling behind, but had to wait until after the half-hour mark for their first good opportunity. Until then, the Freiburg defence, led by centre-back pairing Matthias Ginter and Philipp Lienhart, had stood firm. Mio Backhaus was largely untroubled and dealt confidently with anything that did come his way. He was at full stretch for Samuel Amo-Ameyaw’s effort in the 35th minute, although the shot flew wide. “The lads defended a number of attacks really well today,” said Julian Schuster after the game.

Freiburg’s next good opening again came down the right. Lukas Kübler played Beste in behind and his low ball into the box reached Höler, who turned and shot, only for a Strasbourg defender to make the block (42’). Shortly before half-time, Backhaus was penalised for taking too long over a goal kick as referee Wilke applied one of the new rules introduced this season. Goalkeepers now have eight seconds to restart play, otherwise the opposition are awarded a corner. Strasbourg duly got one just before the break, but were unable to create anything from it.

Höler gets his second

Captain Christian Günter replaced Berkay Yilmaz at half-time, and Freiburg began the second half on the front foot. Derry Scherhant won possession in midfield before shooting over from distance, while new signing Yannik Engelhardt had an effort from 18 yards blocked.

Strasbourg offered little threat at the other end as SC took control of the game. Julian Schuster liked what he was seeing, telling his players to “keep this up” during a hydration break. Shortly beforehand, Yuito Suzuki had gone within inches of scoring with an effort from 18 yards. The second goal arrived with just over ten minutes remaining. Günter delivered an inch-perfect cross for Höler, who headed home to complete his brace and make it 2-0.

SC held on for a deserved victory to make it two wins from two against Strasbourg, having also beaten the Ligue 1 side 2-0 in the earlier game on a training pitch. Schuster was pleased with both the performance and his side’s first outing on the new hybrid surface at the Europa-Park Stadion: “I’m very happy today. It was a good test for this stage of pre-season and the players put a lot of what we’ve worked on into practice. A lot of the things we’ve been training were there to see on the pitch, and the players were in really good shape again today after a tiring week.”

SC Freiburg: Backhaus – Kübler, Lienhart (62’ Jung), Ginter, Yilmaz (46’ Günter) – Engelhardt, Eggestein – Beste, Suzuki (77’ Catak), Scherhant – Höler

Goals: 1-0 Höler (8’), 2-0 Höler (78’)