Freiburg shock Monchengladbach 3-1, Leipzig upset Dortmund in Bundesliga
Berlin, Sep 11 (IANS) Freiburg upset Borussia Monchengladbach with a 3-1 comeback win thanks to Maximilian Philipp's second-half brace and Leipzig sewed up their first top-flight victory after beating Dortmund 1-0 on home soil at the second round of Bundesliga football league.
Newly promoted Freiburg on Saturday tasted their first victory of the season after beating Monchengladbach, who suffered their first defeat after giving away a 1-0 advantage, reports Xinhua.
Monchengladbach tried to grab the reins from the kick off but it were the hosts that ensured the first chance of the game when Florian Niederlechner rattled the left post with 16 minutes into the game.
The "Foals" lacked in penetration and Freiburg missed another chance through Mike Frantz with 32 minutes played.
However, Freiburg's efforts did not pay off. To the contrary, it were the visitors who opened the scoring against the run of the game as Monchengladbach's Thorgan Hazard capitalised on a failed clearance attempt to curl the ball from outside of the box into the top left corner in the 35th minute.
Christian Streich's men responded well to the setback as Philipp shrugged off three Monchengladbach defenders to hammer the equaliser from the edge of the box into the top right corner with 54 minutes into the game.
The hosts kept it bowling and punished harmless Monchengladbach in the closing period after Philipp secured Freiburg the 2-1 lead after slotting home a low shot into the far post corner in the 85th minute.
Freiburg were not done with the scoring as substitute Nils Petersen converted a foul play penalty in the injury time to round off the 3-1 win in front of home crowd.
Seven years after the foundation of Leipzig, who marched through all lower leagues, they wrapped up their first Bundesliga win in the club's history after overcoming Dortmund 1-0.
The "BVB" controlled the proceedings in the first half, yet Thomas Tuchel's men were unable to take advantage on their dominance. Andre Schuerrle almost broke the deadlock but the forward's effort missed the target just wide.
Timo Werner created the first opportunity for Leipzig but Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Buerki blocked his shot on target.
After the restart, Leipzig increased their offensive endeavours while Dortmund were unable to find a gap in the hosts' bulwark.
Just when both team settled for a goalless draw, Dortmund's Schuerrle rattled the bar from 17 metres before Naby Keita tapped home the square pass from substitute Oliver Burke to seal the 1-0 victory in the 89th minute.
Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen turned the tides against Hamburg to snatch a 3-1 victory by courtesy of substitute Joel Pohjanpalo, who provided a second-half hat rick within eleven minutes.
For the first time in Hertha Berlin history, the capital club started with two straight wins into the season as Vedad Ibisevic and substitute Julian Stieber were on target to edge Ingolstadt.
Darmstadt overcame Frankfurt 1-0 in the Hessian derby thanks to the last-grasp winner through Sandro Sirigu. And, Wolfsburg shared the spoils with Cologne following a goalless draw.
--IANS
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