bundesliga

Vincenzo Grifo free-kick stuns Borussia Dortmund in Freiburg win

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Vincenzo Grifo and Roland Sallai goals earned Freiburg a hard-fought first three points of the season and handed Marco Rose a first Bundesliga defeat as Borussia Dortmund head coach.

Freiburg 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
Goals: 1-0
Grifo (6'), 2-0 Sallai (53'), 2-1 Keitel o.g. (59')

Grifo kicked off the farewell tour in fine style, in Freiburg's third-from-last game at the Dreisamstadion. The Italy international fired home a stunning free-kick, curling the ball in off a post from 30 yards out to hand his side the lead inside six minutes. The visitors had dictated possession for the opening minutes and that theme continued, despite them going behind. Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland forced saves from Mark Flekken before the 18-year-old Englishman came closest to scoring for Dortmund, hitting the post with his header from Gio Reyna's corner. Wooyeong Jeong should have put the home side two goals in front moments later, but miscued his effort from right in front of goal. Nico Schulz came off injured before the break with Raphael Guerreiro on for his first appearance of the campaign, with that rare chance for Freiburg the last of a half which Dortmund dominated in terms of possession.

Freiburg came out in the second half with confidence and deservedly doubled their lead just eight minutes after the restart. A swift counter-attack sent Jeong down the left, and his cross found Lucas Höler in the middle who headed down for Sallai to thump home through a host of defenders. Six minutes later and the game was back on as Yannik Keitel diverted the ball into his own net from Felix Passlack's cross. Dortmund continued to pile on the pressure, but Freiburg's defence performed outstandingly to keep Haaland and Co. from creating clear-cut chances. Julian Brandt, Emre Can and Mats Hummels all came on for their first outings of the season, but the visitors struggled to break through the Freiburg defence and suffered a first - and deserved - Bundesliga defeat of the Rose era.

Match stats

  • Freiburg captain Christian Günter became the club's outright appearance holder in the Bundesliga after his 237th appearance.
  • Grifo's fourth goal from a direct free-kick in the Bundesliga was the 11th of his last 14 in the top-flight to either give his side the lead or to equalise.
  • Sallai also scored Freiburg's second goal of the campaign last season.
  • Maximilian Eggestein made his Freiburg debut, having signed from Werder Bremen this week.
  • The Black Forest club's win is only their fifth overall in 43 Bundesliga meetings with Dortmund.
  • Dortmund have now scored in 34 consecutive Bundesliga games - a new club record.

Watch: Grifo: "My free-kick was incredible"

Line-ups

Freiburg: Flekken - Schmid, Lienhart, N. Schlotterbeck, Günter (c) - Keitel (Eggestein 86'), Höfler, Grifo (Kübler 84') - Sallai (Schade 71'), Höler (Demirovic 71'), Jeong (Haberer 71')
Unused subs: Uphoff, Heintz, K. Schlotterbeck, Weißhaupt
Out: Burkart (knock), Gulde (hip), Petersen (knee)
Coach: 
Christian Streich

Dortmund: Kobel - Passlack (Can 79'), Witsel (Hummels 79'), Akanji, Schulz (Guerreiro 38') - Bellingham, Dahoud, Reyna (Brandt 71') - Reus (c) - Haaland, Malen (Moukoko 79')
Unused subs: Hitz, Delaney, Reinier, Wolf
Out: Coulibaly (knee), Hazard (ankle), Meunier (match fitness), Morey (knee), Schmelzer (knee), Zagadou (knee)
Coach: 
Marco Rose

Watch: Bellingham: "We're still getting used to the style of play"