Borussia Dortmund striker Sebastian Haller scored his first goal after his return from cancer treatment in their 5-1 win over Freiburg. The Ruhr valley club was in great shape as they increased their point total to 37 by winning four of their previous four league games. As a result of Kiliann Sildillia’s early error, Freiburg, who dropped to sixth place with 34 points, was reduced to 10 men in the seventeenth minute. In the 26th minute, former Freiburg defender Nico Schlotterbeck promptly capitalized on Dortmund’s advantage by squeezing a goal in from the tightest of angles. Dortmund had Freiburg on the back foot for the majority of the game, but when the hosts struggled, the visitors struck against the run of play when Lucas Hoeler smashed in a loose ball.
After the breakthrough by Sebastian Haller, Borussia Dortmund quickly brought order back by scoring twice in a three-minute stretch. Jude Bellingham’s backheel flick set up Karim Adeyemi, who scored the team’s second goal in the 48th minute by sneaking the ball past goalkeeper Mark Flekken. It was time for Haller to put his problems behind him and get back to scoring when testicular cancer was identified not long after he joined the team in July of last year. After months of chemotherapy and surgery to treat the disease, Haller had just returned. The Ivory Coast attacker scored his first goal in a competitive game after 51 minutes.
“Way too late to achieve this goal. When we first signed him in July and August, we had hoped he would have scored his first goal, but as you are all aware, things have changed since then,” Borussia Dortmund head coach Edin Terzic said. “So, in front of the yellow wall, the goal was achieved today (of Dortmund fans). Both he and we are quite grateful for it. It was, hopefully, the first of many, many objectives.”
In the 69th minute, Julian Brandt’s long-range attempt deflected against the post, and Gio Reyna finished off Freiburg’s rout after Freiburg coach Christian Streich was also dismissed for disobedience.
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