Although a 0-0 draw is rarely a spectacle, SC coach Christian Streich was able to take plenty of positives from the friendly against fellow Bundesliga side Leverkusen. “I’m really satisfied. Our tactical discipline was really, really good. We unfortunately couldn’t score a goal, however we only allowed them three or four chances.”

500 fans in Wattens

The journey for the Freiburg players to Wattens from Montafon took almost two hours for this friendly. There were 500 fans permitted in the stadium, with the majority of them Freiburg ones.

Freiburg with the better chances

It was an improved performance for Freiburg compared to the last friendly against Vaduz, with SC looking more confident on the ball, fitter and more tactically solid.

In an even start, Freiburg – in their new blue third kit – had the first good chance of the game. Lucas Höler did well to win the ball of Leverkusen’s Julian Baumgartlinger near the corner flag and found Nishan Burkart in the box. His shot, though, was blocked (8’).

It took 24 minutes for Leverkusen’s first opportunity, which was mainly down to how compact Freiburg’s defence was. Mark Flekken showed off his reflexes to deny Karim Bellarabi from close range.

Neither side could manage a goal in the first half, despite more chances at both ends. The most notable ones came for Nico Schlotterbeck. He was kept out by Lukas Hradecky (41’) and then hit the outside of the post from the resulting corner (42’).

Goalless second half

Leverkusen came out of the traps quicker for the second period, although the game evened out once again. Benjamin Uphoff, who came on at half time, saved another Bellarabi shot at the start of the second half (48’), while Jeremie Frimpong came close to scoring an own goal at the other end from a dangerous Lucas Höler cross (55’).

Freiburg were without Nils Petersen (rehabilitation training), Kevin Schade (ankle) and Kimberly Ezekwem (muscular problems), plus Noah Atubolu, Guillaume Furrer and Julius Tauriainen, who have all left the first-team setup to prepare for the new season with the reserves. Streich made several changes across the 90 minutes, giving plenty of players the chance to impress.

There wasn’t much action to speak of in the second half, partly down to the number of substitutions made. Freiburg remained strong defensively, but rarely threatened at the other end. The next notable SC shots came in the final 10 minutes. Ermedin Demirovic’s shot was too central in the 83rd minute, before Roland Sallai struck the bar with three minutes left to play.

Benjamin Uphoff remained untroubled in goal for Freiburg, that was until the 89th minute. Jonathan Tah headed past him from a free-kick, however it was ruled out for offside.

Freiburg’s second friendly during their training camp therefore also ended in a draw after the 1-1 vs. Vaduz last week. Next up is a double header against Racing Strasbourg on Saturday, 31st July (16:30 & 18:30 CEST).

SC team: Flekken (45’ Uphoff), Lienhart (30’ N. Schlotterbeck), Gulde (60’ Sildillia), Heintz, Kübler (60’ Weißhaupt) , Höfler (45’ Keitel), Santamaria (45’ Haberer), Günter (30’ Schmid), Höler (60’ Sallai), Burkart (30’ Demirovic), Grifo (60’ Jeong)

Photo: Achim Keller