Borussia Dortmund suffered an early blow to their Bundesliga title aspirations when they lost 1-2 at combative Freiburg on Saturday.
Superb goals from Vincenzo Grifo and Roland Sallai put Freiburg clear with Borussia Dortmund only cutting the deficit via an own goal as big striker Erling Haaland had a rare off day.
“I think Freiburg…deserved the win. We had great chances to equalise at 1-0,” Borussia Dortmund coach Marco Rose said. “It is always difficult in Freiburg.”
Promoted Bochum beat Mainz 2-0, leaders Wolfsburg fought back to win 2-1 at Hertha Berlin and Bayer Leverkusen overpowered Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-0 as Yann Sommer had a night to forget.
Eintracht Frankfurt drew 0-0 with Augsburg and Greuther Fuerth were held 1-1 by Arminia Bielefeld in their first ever Bundesliga meeting.
RB Leipzig beat Stuttgart 4-0 on Friday while champions Bayern Munich host Cologne on Sunday when Hoffenheim also face Union Berlin.
Borussia Dortmund began in Freiburg with Mats Hummels only fit enough for the bench, meaning midfielder Axel Witsel had to continue in central defence.
Netherlands winger Donyell Malen meanwhile made his first start since joining from PSV Eindhoven.
The visitors were stunned after just 6 minutes when Grifo bent in the perfect free-kick to give Freiburg the lead.
Borussia Dortmund had chances but poor finishing, including from Haaland, and Jude Bellingham striking the post meant it stayed 1-0 at the break.
England’s Bellingham then lost the ball in midfield and a superb counter-attack from Freiburg was expertly finished off by Sallai on 53 minutes.
An unfortunate own goal from Yannik Keitel under pressure from Bellingham soon after gave Borussia Dortmund hope, but they failed to really push for an equaliser.
“We threw everything at the ball in front of our goal and in front of theirs,” said Freiburg’s Christian Guenter, who set a new club appearance record in his 237th Bundesliga game.
Borussia Dortmund had started the season strongly last weekend under new coach Rose with a 5-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
But they lost the Super Cup 3-1 to Bayern on Tuesday.
Bayer Leverkusen made a quick start with Gladbach goalkeeper Sommer, impressive at Euro 2020 for Switzerland and in the 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich last week, unlucky.
He was unfortunate to see Mitchel Bakker’s drive come off the post, hit his leg and roll in.
Patrik Schick then blasted in the home side’s second on eight minutes after good work from Moussa Diaby, although Sommer again could arguably have done better.
Marcus Thuram and Stefan Lainer went off injured in the first half for lacklustre Gladbach.
Borussia Moenchengladbach could have got back into the game if Lars Stindl’s penalty kick had not been saved by Lukas Hradecky.
Diaby’s deflected effort after the break sealed their fate before Sommer let a late Nadiem Amiri effort creep over the line.
Promoted Bochum celebrated their first home game in the Bundesliga since 2010 in front of near packed stands.
Fans were treated to a wonder goal from Gerrit Holtmann against his old side on 21 minutes.
He picked up the ball midway through Mainz’s half and dribbled through almost the entire defence before nutmegging Robin Zentner.
Bochum, who lost 1-0 at Wolfsburg in their season opener last weekend, made it 2-0 through Sebastian Polter’s header on 56 minutes.
This was as they bossed a Mainz side who won last weekend against Leipzig despite a raft of coronavirus absences.
Wolfsburg are top after two weeks of action, the only side with six points while Hertha Berlin are the sole team on zero.
Hosts Hertha Berlin lost Kevin Prince Boateng to injury in the first half but went ahead thanks to Dodi Lukebakio’s penalty kick.
Wolfsburg hit back through Ridle Baku’s near-post strike, with goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow at fault.
New signing Lukas Nmecha grabbed the winner off the bench for the Wolves on 88 minutes.
New coach Mark van Bommel’s strong Bundesliga start contrasts with his substitution error which led his side to be kicked out of the German Cup first round.
