ShareLEIPZIG: RB Leipzig came from behind to beat Freiburg 3-1 at home on Saturday to leapfrog Bayern Munich and go top of the Bundesliga, while Borussia Dortmund’s away woes continued with another defeat.
Freiburg, impressive this season under new coach Julian Schuster, scored first when Japan winger Ritsu Doan was in the perfect place to head in a Vincenzo Grifo cross. Leipzig, who looked heavy-legged after a 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday, were a goal down at half-time but equalized shortly after.
Germany defender Benjamin Henrichs, who was at fault for Freiburg’s opener, cut a dangerous cross goalwards for captain Willi Orban to divert into the net. Lutsharel Geertruida put Leipzig in front after 58 minutes when he finished off a lightning-fast counter attack for his first Bundesliga goal.
Lois Openda put the home side in full control with 11 minutes remaining, again on the break—his fifth goal in eight games this season. Leipzig are now three points clear of Bayern, who play at last-placed Bochum on Sunday.
Orban said Leipzig “took a while to get our motor running”, adding “we could still feel the (Liverpool) game in our bones”.
‘Hard to get a win’
Just days after letting a 2-0 lead slip to lose 5-2 at Real Madrid in a rematch of last season’s Champions League final, Dortmund’s poor week continued with a 2-1 defeat at Augsburg despite going ahead early. As he did against Real, Dortmund winger Donyell Malen gave his side the lead, blasting an excellent Serhou Guirassy assist into the net after four minutes.
Augsburg were level after 25 minutes however, Alexis Claude-Maurice taking advantage of some lazy defending to waltz through the centre of the park and hit a low shot into the corner. Claude-Maurice scored five minutes into the second half, this time capitalizing on an Emre Can error to slide the ball into the right-hand corner.
A frustrated Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin told Sky: “The goals we conceded, just insane, and now we are leaving empty handed again. “It’s too easy to score goals against us. When you concede two goals a game it’s going to be hard to get a win.”
Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl said the club had “full trust, no question” in Sahin, adding “we’re not where we want to be yet but we’ve said again and again we need time”. The loss leaves Dortmund seven points off top spot after just eight matches and last season’s Champions League finalists have not won away from home in the league since April.
Elsewhere, Stuttgart won 2-1 at home against promoted Holstein Kiel. Captain Deniz Undav opened the scoring 19 minutes in and El Bilal Toure, who scored a stoppage-time winner against Juventus midweek, added a stunner in the second half.
Jeff Chabot’s second yellow meant Stuttgart were reduced to 10 men and Armin Gigovic cut the lead with six minutes remaining but Kiel, who lost Jann-Fiete Arp to a second yellow late, could not cut the gap further. In Hamburg, promoted St Pauli picked up a valuable point in a scoreless draw at home against Wolfsburg. — AFP
