As is normally the case during an international break, SC Freiburg took the opportunity to play a friendly. The first such game of 2025 saw them play Karlsruher SC, a regular opponent for matches of this kind. The two sides last met as recently as November 2024, with Freiburg getting the better of the second-division side 1-0 back then.

On this occasion, the friendly took place in Freiburg, on a training pitch next to the Europa-Park Stadion. SC were without eight players who are currently away on international duty: Philipp Lienhart, Michael Gregoritsch, Ritsu Doan, Florent Muslija, Johan Manzambi, Kiliann Sildillia, Noah Atubolu and Max Rosenfelder. This meant that from the starting XI last time out in Mainz, only Matthias Ginter, Patrick Osterhage and Junior Adamu also began this clash with Karlsruhe. With Merlin Röhl also out injured, David Schopper, Gabriel Pellegrino, Yann Sturm, Ruben Müller and Marco Wörner from the U23s stepped up to the first team to fill in.

It was an even start to the game in sunny Freiburg. Karlsruhe, currently 10th in the second division, had the first notable attack of the day as Robin Bormuth’s header went just over the bar. Maximilian Philipp was responsible for SC’s first attempt of the afternoon, also their only one in the first half, shooting straight at KSC goalkeeper Robin Himmelmann. The visitors were able to break the deadlock with around 20 minutes played from Robin Heußer’s curling effort which left Florian Müller with no chance.

Karlsruhe had the next opportunity too after Nicolas Höfler lost possession in midfield, but their strike went over the bar. Müller made a good save to deny a KSC striker 10 minutes before the break as well. SC struggled to create opportunities to score in the first 45 minutes against a compact Karlsruhe defence. 

Powerful strike by Eggestein

Maximilian Eggestein replaced Osterhage at the interval and immediately had an impact on the game. After a Karlsruhe defender could only head Jordy Makengo’s cross to the midfielder, he powerfully volleyed home to make it 1-1 after 52 minutes. Schuster’s team were more of a threat in the final third after the break, as evidenced by Eren Dinkci’s clever pass which was then cleared onto the post by a KSC man.

Freiburg had more of the ball and played with more purpose in the second half, something Julian Schuster also noticed: “I was a lot happier with our performance in the second half, we did a lot more with the ball,” he said after the game.

Despite this improvement from SC, Karlsruhe were still able to cause Freiburg problems at the other end. After Louey Ben Farhat hit the side-netting, the youngster took advantage of a defensive error to put KSC 2-1 up in the 70th minute. Müller then prevented the away team from getting a third goal with a close-range save from a corner.

The boys from Breisgau were unable to break down Karlsruhe late on as they searched for another equaliser. The closest Schuster’s team came to scoring again was when Vincenzo Grifo and Dinkci both had shots blocked. “We don’t like to lose games, even friendlies,” stated Schuster. “The most important thing, however, was that nobody got injured.”

SC’s next match after the international break is on 30th March at home against Union Berlin in the Bundesliga.

SC: F. Müller (Huth)– Kübler, Gulde (67’ Schopper), Ginter (67’ Günter), Makengo – Beste, Osterhage (46’ Eggestein), Höfler, Philipp (67’ Grifo) – Adamu (67’ Höler), Dinkci

Goals: 0-1 Heußer (20’), 1-1 Eggestein (52’), 1-2 Ben Farhat (70’)

Photo: Achim Keller