Veterans Reus and Hummels rescue Borussia Dortmund with 4-2 win at Freiburg in Bundesliga
BERLIN (AP) — Borussia Dortmund veterans Marco Reus and Mats Hummels scored late to earn a 4-2 win at Freiburg on Saturday and reduce talk of a crisis at the club after its poor start to the Bundesliga.
Reus went on as a substitute and delivered a free kick that fell to Hummels – who's also 34 – to squeeze over the line from close range in the 88th minute, then sealed the win himself in the third minute of injury time.
It meant Dortmund ended a two-game winless run ahead of its visit to Paris Saint-Germain for their Champions League opener on Tuesday.
Hummels opened the scoring with a header off Julian Brandt’s corner in the 11th. He has now scored a goal in 16 consecutive Bundesliga seasons, becoming only the sixth player to do so.
But the team has been struggling this season and its problems did not disappear over the international break.
“It’s not just this season,” said Hummels, who also became the oldest player to score two goals for Dortmund in a league game. “Playing against defensive opponents and finding solutions with this class and calmness on the ball, dominating the opponent in midfield, it’s definitely something that we clearly have to improve on if we want to be a top team.”
Freiburg improved as the game progressed with Philipp Lienhart striking the post before Ritsu Doan also went close.
Substitute Vincenzo Grifo crossed for Lucas Höler to equalize in first-half injury time and there was still time before the break for Nicolas Höfler to score from Grifo’s free kick.
Dortmund substitute Niclas Füllkrug set up Donyell Malen to equalize on the hour-mark, but the visitors only gained the upper hand when Höfler was sent off late for a bad challenge on Marcel Sabitzer.
“We're not yet at 100%,” Dortmund coach Edin Terzić said. “You could see that today, particularly in the first half. It's not always so easy, we haven't started the season well. We were criticized before for giving away the lead. This time we recovered and managed to win in the end. You can tell the guys are very self-critical, they speak about negative things, but then we focus on the positive and work well on the training field.
"Now a new competition is waiting for us on Tuesday against a team that plays completely differently from Freiburg. We'll start preparing for that tomorrow and we're looking forward to it. But first we're happy to be flying home as winners today.”
REAL MADRID WAITING
Union Berlin slumped to its second straight defeat — losing 2-1 at Wolfsburg — before its Champions League debut at Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci remained on the bench for Union and is still to make his debut following a summer switch from Juventus.
Union made the better start but fell behind to an early strike from Jonas Wind on a counterattack. It was the Denmark striker’s fifth goal in four games this season.
Aïssa Laïdouni crossed for Robin Gosens to equalize in the 28th, only for Joakim Mæhle to reply two minutes later when he fired through a host of players after Frederik Rönnow punched away a corner.
Leipzig warmed up for its Champions League campaign with a 3-0 win at Augsburg. Leipzig plays Swiss team Young Boys in Bern on Tuesday.
Serhou Guirassy scored a hat trick for Stuttgart to beat Mainz 3-1 away, and Cologne was beaten 3-1 at home by Hoffenheim as it celebrated 100 years of the Müngersdorfer Stadium.
Eintracht Frankfurt drew at Bochum 1-1 in the late game.
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