Lucas Höler, who made his 300th competitive appearance for SCF, replaced Igor Matanovic in the starting line-up to face the record champions. Matanovic returned to Freiburg late after being part of the Croatia squad who played two friendlies in the USA.

Höler’s inclusion brought back memories of his previous goals against Bayern. In March 2024, he struck a late equaliser to deny FCB a Bundesliga victory, while, in 2023, he scored an injury-time penalty to send Freiburg into the DFB-Pokal semi-finals at Bayern’s expense – and he would go on to find the net once again in Saturday’s clash. The other changes from the side who faced FC St. Pauli before the international break saw Derry Scherhant, Christian Günter and Philipp Lienhart come into the side. The league leaders were without top scorer Harry Kane, who missed out due to injury.

Big opportunity for Treu

Despite Kane’s absence, Bayern’s side were still full of world-class players. SC set out to play with courage in a game that was very open early on. During the first few minutes, the hosts won the ball back well in midfield on multiple occasions. In the fifth minute, Höler put Manuel Neuer under so much pressure that the 40-year-old lost the ball. The SCF forward initially looked to find a teammate but eventually fired towards goal himself. The ball went wide of the post.

Bayern patiently looked to attack. Noah Atubolu kept out Bayern’s first effort on goal from Tom Bischof. The Freiburg ‘keeper also denied Serge Gnabry after beating the FCB attacker to a chipped ball into the box. However, it was actually SC who then created the best opportunity of the match so far. In the 15th minute, SCF broke forward on the left. Johan Manzambi turned away from his opponent before playing in Niklas Beste, whose low cross found Philipp Treu at the far post. The right-back had plenty of time, but his effort was wide of goal.

Three chances in three minutes

This had been a very good performance against the Bundesliga’s top side. Freiburg were energetic, lively and purposeful. Julian Schuster was often seen applauding on the sidelines. Bayern were still a threat, but were also vulnerable. Jonathan Tah fouled Yuito just outside the area, handing SC a free kick in a dangerous area. With no Vincenzo Grifo on the pitch, Beste took on a low shot but Neuer made a comfortable save (27’). Around 60 seconds later, Höler came close to the opener, but Neuer made an excellent save to keep out his volleyed effort.

Soon after, the visitors were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. Joshua Kimmich struck the set piece into the wall (31’). The match remained tension-packed and full of excitement and featured plenty of chances before the break. In the 35th minute, the Bayern goalkeeper made another strong save to keep out Lienhart’s header following a free kick – although the Austrian was narrowly offside when the ball was played.

Luis Diaz and Lennart Karl missed two opportunities in quick succession three minutes before half time. In the 45th minute, Serge Gnabry struck narrowly wide from outside the area. This was the final chance of a first half in which SCF had performed very strongly.

A dream start to the second half

The fans who were back in the seats for the very start of the second half certainly got their timings right. Freiburg made a purposeful start and, less than two minutes into the second 45, Manzambi tried his luck and found the back of the net from around 27 yards out.

Höler missed an opportunity to cap his strong performance with a goal in the 53rd minute. The forward was unable to convert two big chances in the box within three minutes, but there were no signs of frustration from the stands. Instead, the fans simply stepped up their encouragement for Höler and the team.

Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany sent on Michael Olise, who missed a chance to equalise with his first touch (58’). Despite that miss, the visitors were now pushing harder and putting the SC backline under more pressure. SCF held firm. Then, the hosts struck again – and this time Lucas Höler made no mistake.

Höler on target but FCB strike in long added-time period

After a Freiburg corner, Höler took full advantage of a mix-up between Neuer and one of his teammates to put his side 2-0 up. His goal against Bayern was the reward for an excellent individual performance. The stadium was now absolutely rocking – even more so when Atubolu managed to tip Olise’s shot from the right over the bar (77’) and then made a flying save from Diaz’s shot four minutes later.

The final stages were full of tension. Bayern forced SC deep into their own half and made the hosts put in a huge amount of work defensively. After Atubolu had made two good saves from long-range efforts, the visitors let fly from range twice more – and one of these saw Kompany’s side reduce the deficit. Bischof made it 2-1 with a low shot into the corner from outside the area (81’).

This was followed by ten minutes of injury time, during which SCF lost the game. First, Bischof had another chance to shoot from the same position and same distance from goal as his earlier strike. The 20-year-old struck it low and found the net for a second time. Bayern were now launching wave after wave of attacks, and they were to have the final word. In the ninth minute of added time, they completed the turnaround when Karl made it 3-2 from close range.

Maximilian Eggestein gave his sober analysis after the game: “It was a very long period of injury time, which I find frustrating. But we should have wrapped up the game before that.” Julian Schuster also believed that his side should have secured the three points. “We have to blame ourselves for not putting the game to bed. We missed opportunities to score in the first half. It all looked very good for us for a very long time. We executed many aspects of our game plan in the way that we wanted to.”

Photo: Achim Keller