Freiburg fell behind inside the opening five minutes away to Paderborn, but Luca Waldschmidt, Nils Petersen and Kwon Chang-hoon strikes saw them emerge with a 3-1 win at the Benteler-Arena.

Paderborn 1-3 Freiburg
Goals: 1-0 Mamba (3’), 1-1 Waldschmidt (21’), 1-2 Petersen (40’), 1-3 Kwon (90')

Freiburg beat Mainz 3-0 on the opening day, and they started confidently against promoted Paderborn, their little-changed team stroking the ball around casually at the back. Paderborn struck early, though, with Streli Mamba using his pace to get in behind Jonathan Schmid before finishing past Alexander Schwolow for his second goal in as many Bundesliga games. The same counter-attacking strategy nearly worked again minutes later, but this time Robin Koch raced back in time to take the ball off Sven Michel’s toe. Mainz got back on level terms when Waldschmidt stroked home from the penalty spot after Christian Strohdiek had handled Christian Günter’s cross, and they carried a lead into the interval after Petersen sprang the offside trap, rounded Jannik Huth, and slotted home.

Steffen Baumgart’s half-time team talk can’t have been too harsh, with the hosts bounding back out for the second half with their tails up. Christopher Antwi-Adjei was inches away from restoring parity when he headed a chance narrowly wide of a stranded Schwolow’s near post and Jürgen Gjasula struck a well-worked free-kick that ultimately came to nothing. Schmid, culpable for Paderborn’s opener, came close to making amends at the other end just past the hour mark when he spun a free-kick of his own towards the home goal, but Huth turned his effort around the post. Baumgart sent Gerrit Holtmann and Babacar Gueye into the fray for the final 20 minutes, but the fresh legs failed to turn the tide of the game for the hosts, who conceded a third at the death thanks to Kwon's tap-in.

Luca Waldschmidt got Freiburg back on level terms with his first-half penalty. - imago images / Noah Wedel

Match stats

• Petersen’s goal for 2-1 was his 10th goal in just eight career games against Paderborn across Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2.
• Waldschmidt, Germany’s seven-goal top scorer in June’s UEFA European U21 Championship, scored for the second time in as many games.
• Freiburg have now beaten each of the 17 other teams in this season’s Bundesliga. The only side missing from their resume was Paderborn.
• Mamba’s opener was his third goal in three competitive games for Paderborn, following strikes against Rödinghausen in the DFB Cup, and in the opening-day 3-2 loss to Bayer Leverkusen.
• Mamba’s opener, scored just inside the first three minutes, was the quickest goal Paderborn have ever scored in the Bundesliga.
• Paderborn’s Mo Dräger is in the second of a two-season loan spell from Freiburg. The Tunisia right-back featured twice for his hometown club in 2017 before helping his current employers to promotion last term.

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Line-ups

Paderborn: Huth – Dräger (Pröger 83'), Strohdiek (c), Hünemeier, Collins – Cauly (Holtmann 69'), Vasiliadis, Gjasula, Antwi-Adjei – Mamba (Gueye 75'), Michel
Unused subs: Ratajczak, Ritter, Shelton, Killian, Jans, Zolinski,
Out: Schonlau (foot), Zingerle (shoulder)
Coach: Steffen Baumgart

Freiburg: Schwolow – Lienhart, Koch, Schlotterbeck – Schmid, Gondorf (Frantz 62'), Höfler, Günter (c) – Waldschmidt (Höler 78'), Petersen, Borrello (Kwon 86')
Unused subs: Thiede, Abrashi, Sallai, Heintz, Tempelmann, Kleindienst
Out: Flekken (ankle), Haberer (ankle), Itter (ankle), Terrazzino (knee)
Coach: Christian Streich

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