Yuito Suzuki motors into new season with hat-trick for Freiburg
Big things seemingly beckon for Freiburg's Japanese attacker Yuito Suzuki in his second Bundesliga campaign after a hat-trick on the opening day against Werder Bremen.
It was some way to announce yourself in a new campaign.
Having demonstrated a dependable goal threat in his debut season for Freiburg after signing from Brøndby in summer 2025, Suzuki burst out of the traps with a blistering display of clinical finishing as he grabbed three goals in a 4-1 win over Bremen.
He is already just a goal short of his total tally of four from last season after the treble between the 29th and 55th minute - all short-range efforts that showed a true finisher's knack for being in the right place at the right time.
Suzuki struck a typically modest tone after claiming the match ball, saying: "I just tapped in all three goals. So I just want to thank all three guys who gave me the great passes, Niki [Niklas Beste], Igor [Matanović] and Derry [Scherhant]."
Bundesliga app users were in no doubt who the star of the show was, however, with a huge 80 percent voting the seven-time Japan international as Man of the Match.
Suzuki also sounded determined not to get carried away by the opening-day heroics, saying: "It's still the beginning of the season. So we want to keep going, and we want to be a good team right until the end.”
The famously understated club are building some serious early-season momentum with wins in the DFB Cup against Fortuna Düsseldorf (5-1) and in both legs of a UEFA Conference League play-off against Motherwell (3-1 away and 4-1 at home).
With Suzuki offering superb support in a deeper attacking position to their target man, Matanović, who struck his fourth goal of the season in all competitions with a thunderous drive from 25 yards against Bremen, the boys from the Black Forest look ready to challenge all as they aim to press on from a historic 2025/26 campaign that saw them reach the UEFA Europa League final.
Next in line are newly promoted Paderborn on Matchday 2 this coming Saturday (kick-off: 3.30pm CEST).
