As was the case in 2021, Christian Streich’s side played out their final pre-season fixture against the Ligue 1 side Strasbourg. The absentees for the trip to Colmar were: Lucas Höler (broken metatarsal), Kevin Schade (recovery training), Noah Atubolu (blistered foot) and Roland Sallai (muscle issues).

Doan converts first chance of the game

Following a cagey opening, in which Strasbourg had more of the ball, SCF Started to grow into the game and made perfect use of their first goalscoring chance: Christian Günter played the ball to Ritsu Doan inside the penalty area with a fine pass, and the Japanese international turned his defender inside out before hammering home into the far corner (14’).

The fact that this was more than a summer kickabout for both teams was clear as early as the 17th minute: following a foul in midfield and a bit of handbags, Racing’s Adrian Thomasson and Dimitri Lienard, as well as Vincenzo Grifo, were booked. The crowd also made sure that the teams were well up to the task at the Colmar Stadium.

Julién Stephan’s RCSA side, who drew 2-2 with Premier League side Brentford FC in midweek, were stifled in the creation of their chances for large parts of the first period. It was 36 minutes before SC goalkeeper Mark Flekken had work to do – Sanjin Prcic’s 25-yard attempt was an easy piece of practice for the Dutch shot-stopper, though.

Grifo adds a second before the first break

Streich’s team added the pressure towards the break and found a second goal. Following a one-two with Doan, Grifo found the far corner from the left hand side of the penalty area on 40 minutes. The first break came with SCF two to the good.

Michael Gregoritsch, who suffered a blow to the ankle in the first 45, stayed in the dressing room after the break – Nils Petersen came in for him. The game was rather devoid of chances, which did not put the over 4,000 spectators in a good mood – Petersen missed a volley around the hour mark from a Doan cross.

As the second half of the game began, Racing started to turn the screw. Mark Flekken dealt with a misplaced pass on 65 minutes, before stretching himself to palm a 30-yard screamer from Maxime le Marchand away from the top corner.

Gameiro reduces the deficit

Flekken could not do anything to prevent Racing halving the arrears on 75 minutes, as Mouhamadou Diallo set up Kevin Gameiro to score and make it 2-1, to rapturous celebrations. On the 80-minute mark, RCSA changed their entire XI – the newly-formed team rewarded coach Julién Stephan with the equaliser after less than 10 minutes. Moise Sahi-Dion left Flekken no chance with a powerful effort from 25 yards (87’) – the first 90 minutes finished 2-2, with 45 minutes more to go.

With Noah Weißhaupt and Kiliann Sildillia coming on after Gameiro’s 2-1 goal, SCF made a total of eight more changes in the final 45 minutes – Nils Petersen remained of the field.

The intensity and pace of the tackling and the game in general was still very high – perhaps too high in the referee’s eyes: The French official judged Yannik Keitel to have fouled Sahi-Dion inside the penalty area and gave a penalty on 105 minutes. Jean-Eudes Aholou converted to give SCF the 3-2 lead.

With 121 minutes of the 135 on the clock, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh stepped out onto the pitch to celebrate his SCF debut. The summer signing from FC St. Pauli took just 13 minutes to find the net for the first time: a fine Hugo Siquet cross was headed past Strasbourg ‘keeper Eiji Kawashima. That was the final action of an incredibly intense and hard-fought 135 minutes.

SC Freiburg’s team: Flekken (91‘ Uphoff) – Kübler (76‘ Sildillia), Ginter (91‘ Gulde), Lienhart (91‘ Schlotterbeck), Günter (91‘ Siquet) – Doan (91‘ Schmid), Höfler (91‘ Wagner), Eggestein (91‘ Keitel), Grifo (91‘ Burkart, 121‘ Kyereh) – Jeong (76’ Weißhaupt), Gregoritsch (46‘ Petersen).