Mats Hummels scored goals in each half as Borussia Dortmund came back late to win 4-2 away at Freiburg on Saturday.
Hummels put Dortmund in front early but the side again suffered a collective blackout, allowing Freiburg to take the lead in first-half injury time with two quick goals.
Donyell Malen gave far too much space to Freiburg's free-kick specialist Vincenzo Grifo, who threaded a ball into the box, allowing Lucas Hoeler to head the home side level.
Just four minutes later, the Dortmund defence again lost track of a free kick, Nicolas Hoefler heading in to give his side the lead.
Malen equalised midway through the second half thanks to a clever assist from Germany striker Niclas Fuellkrug.
Dortmund looked set to drop points for the third straight game before Freiburg goalscorer Hoefler saw red with eight minutes remaining, giving the visitors a one-man advantage which they duly used.
Hummels scored again, trickling the ball into goal with two minutes remaining, before Marco Reus added a fourth to seal the win, giving the side a timely boost ahead of Tuesday's trip to Paris Saint-Germain.
Hummels praised his side for "winning ugly", saying "Freiburg at home is hard work".
The former captain however called on his teammates to improve.
"To have class and calmness on the ball... that's something we need to improve if we want to be a top team," he said.
Dortmund captain Emre Can called the win "stressful".
"It's not easy to win here in Freiburg and we did it today," said Can.
Hummels' goals meant the 2014 World Cup winner has now scored in 16 consecutive Bundesliga seasons.
- Union Berlin setback -
Elsewhere, RB Leipzig continued their impressive start to the season, thumping a hapless Augsburg 3-0 at home.
Xavi Simons opened the scoring six minutes in and Lois Openda doubled up minutes later, giving the home side a 2-0 lead after 11 minutes, before David Raum swept in a third, his first goal in Leipzig colours.
Starting the season with a 3-0 Supercup win over Bayern Munich, Leipzig have scored 16 goals in their opening five matches this season.
Union Berlin suffered a setback ahead of Wednesday's trip to face Real Madrid in their debut Champions League campaign, losing 2-1 at Wolfsburg.
Wolfsburg scored early through Jonas Wind, his fifth goal in four matches this season. Union's Robin Gosens pulled one back but Joakim Maehle scored almost immediately to restore the home side's lead.
Union have now lost two league games in a row for the first time since February 2022.
Stuttgart's Serhou Guirassy was on target again, scoring a second-half hat-trick to take his side to a 3-1 win at Mainz, with Leandro Barreiro getting on the board for the home side.
Guirassy now has seven goals in four league games this season.
Goals from Andrej Kramaric, Florian Grillitsch and Maximilian Beier took Hoffenheim to a 3-1 win at Cologne, Davie Selke pulling one back for the struggling home side, who are winless in four matches this season.
In Saturday's late match, winless Bochum host Eintracht Frankfurt.
dwi/bsp
