Joy for Haller as BVB fires five past Frieburg
Sebastian Haller felt Signal Iduna Park was "burning" as he celebrated his first Bundesliga goal for Borussia Dortmund.
The 28-year-old netted in a symbolic moment, with his maiden goal in the 5-1 rout of Freiburg coming on World Cancer Day.
Nico Schlotterbek had put the hosts in front after Kiliann Sildillia was sent off for Freiburg in the 17th minute.
Despite being a man down, Freiburg's forced an equalised through Lucas Holer just before half-time, but all that did was fire up the home side.
A second half blitz saw Karim Adeyemi put Dortmund back in front before Haller scored its third on 51 minutes. Julian Brandt and Gio Reyna then added a fourth and a fifth to complete the rout.
After signing for Dortmund in July, Haller was diagnosed with testicular cancer and did not feature in the first half of the season during his recovery.
A long-awaited debut came in January and he got on the scoresheet on Sunday (AEDT).
Haller's goal resulted in rapturous celebrations from the home fans, who had seen their club promote awareness to testicular cancer on the day, which delighted the Ivory Coast forward.
"Scoring my first goal means a lot to me," he said.
"When I scored the goal, I felt that the whole stadium was burning. Not only the fans, but also the team-mates and the staff.
"I had been looking forward to this goal from the very first moment."
Dortmund's victory puts it level on points with Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, which plays Wolfsburg on Monday (AEDT), sitting two points behind leader Union Berlin.
