Delight for Sébastien Haller as he gets off the mark for Borussia Dortmund

Speaking after Borussia Dortmund’s 5-1 win against Freiburg on Saturday afternoon, Sporting Director Sebastian Kehl discussed the excitement of Sébastien Haller scoring his first goal, and BVB’s general performance.

“We were dominant even before the red card and deservedly won by this margin,” said Kehl. “We’ve worked hard and spoken a lot. The team has settled into a good rhythm. We’re playing very maturely and we’re finding ourselves now. It’s good we’re on this right track, there are important games coming up.

“And we’re all happy for Sébastien. He’s been working towards this day for a long time, it’s a big weight off his shoulders, we’re all excited and overjoyed. He’s capable of playing even better when he discovers his old rhythm. But the goal will help with that, of course.”

Nico Schlotterbeck opened the scoring against his former club before Lucas Höler equalised seconds before the break. Three goals in 21 minutes from Karim Adeyemi, Haller and Julian Brandt then put Borussia Dortmund in a commanding lead before Gio Reyna scored his third goal in 2023, BVB’s fifth of the afternoon.

That win puts Die Schwarzgelben level points with Bayern Munich – who play Wolfsburg on Sunday – and it feels as though we may have a title fight with six teams involved. But, speaking to ESPN post-match, BVB head coach Edin Terzić stated he wasn’t thinking about a potential title challenge, just that he wanted to see improvement on the pitch, and with four successive wins to start 2023, performances appear to be on the up.

GGFN | Daniel Pinder

Get Football+

More European Football News