A small but well-prepared pitch at Zams, in the foothills of the imposing Burschlwand, was the setting for SC Freiburg’s friendly with VfL Wolfsburg. This was an opportunity for both teams to see how they were looking at this stage of pre-season. For ‘the Wolves’ this was the final act of their training camp in Salzburg, while for SC it was the start of their own training camp in Montafon. Christian Streich and Niko Kovac agreed to play a game over four 30 minute quarters. Both coaches wanted to allow as many players as possible the ability to get valuable minutes under their belts.

SC travelled to Austria with seven players from their U23s squad, with Fabian Rüdlin and Maximilian Breunig straight into the starting eleven. Breunig made an immediate impact, going past a number of Wolfsburg players before he was stopped from shooting at the last moment by Wolfsburg new signing Cedric Zesiger. Shortly afterwards, he predicted a backpass header and managed to nip in front of Koen Casteels but his lob flew narrowly over. It was third time lucky for Breunig, who flicked home a Merlin Röhl cross at the near post to put SC ahead(20’).

Wolfsburg also had their chances in the first half an hour. Goalkeeper Florian Müller had to make his first real save just after the half hour mark, as he was forced to save a Jonas Wind lob. All in all, it was SC who had the better chances in attack. Lucas Höler, Maximilian Breunig and Roland Sallai all missed chances during the second 30 minutes to double Freiburg’s lead. Jonas Wind almost equalised on the stroke of half time, with the Denmark international’s shot hitting the post and rolled across the goalline before Florian Müller managed to clear.

Both teams changed completely for the second half, and once again it was SC who got off to the better start. Mika Baur used a moment of uncertainty in the Wolfsburg defence and finished into the right-hand corner to make it 2-0 (65’). After this, Wolfsburg worked their way back into the game. Former Freiburg player Maximilian Philipp pulled the first goal back, finishing with a smart shot on the turn (76’). Two minutes later, Lukas Nmecha won a penalty and then stepped up to take it and equalise (78’). This was the first game into his comeback for the Germany international after months out injured. Wolfsburg then found a winner moments before full time (87’). Tiago Tomas, a new signing from Stuttgart, made the most of a giveaway by Freiburg in build-up allowing Wolfsburg to turn the game around.

There was good news in the stands in the final quarter, with Christian Günter signing autographs for fans with his injured right arm. On the field, what would have been the equaliser by Michael Gregoritsch was chalked off for offside (100’). Moments later, the Austria international hammered the ball against the crossbar. Kiliann Sildillia also headed wide shortly before full time, meaning that after two hours of football in Zams, SC suffered a narrow defeat to their fellow Bundesliga side.

“The first hour was really good in terms our football and our intensity. On the other hand, the pace in the final third was bad, which is obviously not good enough,” said head coach Christian Streich after the game. “In the last half an hour, it was then better again and we were the dominant team. We could have scored another goal from the three or four set-piece opportunities we had.”