Bundesliga
A brace apiece from Thomas Meunier and Erling Haaland and a super Mahmoud Dahoud strike helped Borussia Dortmund to a clinical victory against Freiburg that saw them maintain the pressure on Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga table.
Borussia Dortmund 5-1 Freiburg
Goals: 1-0 Meunier 14' (assist: Brandt), 2-0 Meunier 29' (assist: Brandt), 3-0 Haaland 45+1' (assist: Bellingham), 3-1 Demirovic 61', 4-1 Haaland 75' (assist: Dahoud), 5-1 Dahoud 86' (assist: Schulz)
After witnessing his side produce a dramatic fightback to defeat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2 last time out, Dortmund coach Marco Rose opted for unchanged side for the first time this season. Haaland had a hand in all three goals against the Eagles on Matchday 18 and the Norwegian sensation looked just as electric in the early stages here when flashing a teasing centre from the right into the danger zone that Marco Reus and Jude Bellingham just failed to connect with. Christian Streich's visitors had boasted an away record second only to Bayern Munich's this term, but they were second-best throughout the opening half at Signal Iduna Park and found themselves behind to a couple of identical set-piece goals prior to the half-hour mark, Julian Brandt twice providing the corners for Meunier to head in. With BVB purring, Haaland added another before the break after Bellingham snatched possession and calmly played in his teammate.
Changes prior to the restart finally saw Freiburg begin to show flashes of their phenomenal first half of the season. Substitutes Kevin Schade and Ermedin Demirovic brought some much-needed energy to the visitors' attack, the latter pulling a goal back with a close-range finish after goalkeeper Gregor Kobel could only parry Roland Sallai's shot. Lucas Höler should have done more with Christian Günter's dangerous free-kick as Freiburg's mini-revival continued. Spurred back into action, however, the Black-and-Yellows soon swung proceedings back their way, and they were out of sight when Haaland swept home a fine Dahoud assist, with the midfielder adding another touch of magic with a tasty finish of his own before the end.
Watch: Meunier: “Unbelievable what Haaland’s doing”
Dortmund: Kobel - Meunier (Wolf 75'), Can (Akanji 46'), Hummels, Guerreiro (Schulz 71') - Dahoud, Bellingham (Witsel 84') - Brandt, Reus (c) (Hazard 71'), Malen - Haaland
Unused subs: Hitz, Pongracic, Wolf, Moukoko, Tigges
Out: Morey (knee), Reyna (match fitness), Schmelzer (knee), Unbehaun (hand), Zagadou (not included)
Coach: Marco Rose
Freiburg: Uphoff - Kübler, Lienhart, Gulde, Günter (c) - Haberer (Keitel 65'), Höfler - Sallai (Weißhaupt 65'), Jeong (Demirovic 46'), Grifo (Schade 46') - Höler (Petersen 81')
Unused subs: Abutolu, Siquet, Schmid, Eggestein
Out: Flekken (not included), K. Schlotterbeck (illness), N. Schlotterbeck (match fitness), Sildillia (not included)
Coach: Christian Streich