Malen's brace leads Dortmund to 3-0 win against Freiburg

Donyell Malen's brace led Borussia Dortmund back to winning ways in a 3-0 Bundesliga win against Freiburg on Friday.

Dortmund won their first three games of the year, but there was plenty of criticism after last week's poor performance in a goalless draw at Heidenheim.

"I think we had the right intensity from the start and scored in the right moment," Malen told broadcasters DAZN.

Dortmund consolidate fourth place with a comfortable win, while Freiburg stay seventh for now, but with a third straight defeat.

Malen got Dortmund's opener in the 16th minute after he received a pass from Niclas Füllkrug and fired an unstoppable effort into the net.

He completed his brace before the break and thanks to 12 minutes of added time after the game was interrupted for some 10 minutes when fans threw tennis balls and chocolate coins onto the pitch in protest against the entry of an investor into the German football league (DFL).

In the second half, the game was also shortly interrupted a few times due to the protests.

Dortmund had clear chances to add a third to the scoreboard, first in the 52nd when Noah Atubolu stopped Füllkrug at point-blank range.

Ian Maatsen's first-time shot hit the post in the 72nd, while Malen missed the chance to complete his hat-trick when he pulled his shot narrowly wide of the far post in the 74th.

The ball was eventually again in the back of the net in the 87th as Atubolu couldn't stop the furious header from birthday boy Füllkrug.

"I wished for a win as a birthday present and maybe also a goal, and in the end I got that," said Füllkrug, who received a birthday cake from Malen on the sidelines after the final whistle.

Bundesliga fans have for weeks been protesting against the entry of an investor into the league, after that was approved by 24 of the 36 Bundesliga and second division clubs in a vote last December.

Fan representatives have refused an invitation for talks from the DFL and are demanding a new vote.

DFL supervisory board chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke, who's also chairman of Dortmund's management board, expressed his disappointment at the refusal of fan representatives to engage in dialogue, but has reiterated his willingness to hold conversations.

"We take note of the refusal of the invited fan representatives, but regret it, because a willingness to engage in dialogue is always the basis for democratic cooperation," Watzke was quoted in a DFL statement on Friday.