While a number of U23 players appeared in the first game, this second friendly included a starting eleven purely of players from the Bundesliga squad.

The game had only just kicked off when Noah Atubolu was called upon to make his first save, brilliantly saving from Emanuel Emegha one-on-one. He didn’t have any chance against Lucas Perrin’s header from close range moments later, though, and the guests went 1-0 up (4’). The visitors could have extended their lead in these early stages, with both Emanuel Emegha and Gerzino Nyams hitting the woodwork (6’, 7’).

It was a good ten minutes later before SC, who were playing a 3-4-3 formation, found their way into the game. Manuel Gulde’s shot on the turn flew just over the bar following a freekick near the halfway line (16’), before Lukas Kübler’s close-range effort minutes found the back of the net (21’).

Five minutes later, Merlin Röhl scored to give Freiburg the lead (26’). The 21-year-old neatly placed a shot into the far corner to turn the game around. SC maintained control of the ball better in midfield, albeit not without giving the ball away a few times, and were more compact in defence than at the beginning of the half. Lucas Höler had another couple of good efforts, but couldn’t find the back of the net, and SC went into half time with a 2-1 lead.

SC started the second half unchanged and had to withstand a period of pressure from their guests. In comparison to the first half the SC defence stood up to this period of attacking pressure much better.

The game then became more disjointed and scrappier, with neither team holding a clear advantage and goal-scoring opportunities, like a double chance for Kiliann Sildillia and Michael Gregoritsch in the 64th minute, the exception.

Strasbourg equalised ten minutes before full time. Gerzino Nyamsi flicked a header past Noah Atubolu and into the far corner (80’). It was a goal that hadn’t really seemed to be coming, but also one that meant, all in all, a fair scoreline at full time.

“We had a lot of young players playing in the first game and went 2-0 down straight away, but they didn’t let that get to them. They played really well and deservedly turned the 2-0 deficit around,” said Christian Streich after the second 90 minute game of the day. “In the second game, we also went behind straight away, but we then played well in the first half. In the second half, Racing wanted to come back, you saw their quality. We were then not as clean in our passing as in the first half and didn’t mix it up as much.”

SC play Empoli this weekend (Saturday, 15:30 CEST) at the Europa-Park Stadion for their season opening.

SC Freiburg: Atubolu – Gulde, Ginter, Lienhart – Sildillia, Eggestein, Röhl, Kübler – Höler, Gregoritsch, Grifo

Goals: 0-1 Perrin (4‘), 1-1 Kübler (21‘), 2-1 Röhl (26‘), 2-2 Nyamsi (80‘)