Terzic lauds 18-year-old ‘game-changer’ Bynoe-Gittens after subs save Dortmund
Edin Terzic needed a record-breaking intervention from his Borussia Dortmund substitutes to achieve his own BVB first in a 3-1 win at Freiburg on Friday.
Dortmund boss Terzic was bidding to become the first coach to win nine consecutive Bundesliga games with the club, but it was all going wrong when Michael Gregoritsch had Freiburg in front at half-time.
And the scoreline was still 1-0 with 20 minutes to go when Youssoufa Moukoko was introduced from the bench.
But the 17-year-old had a huge impact, first teeing up fellow teenager Jamie Bynoe-Gittens to net his first league goal before giving Dortmund the lead himself.
Marius Wolf made sure of the points with two minutes to play, with all three scorers coming on as substitutes – a Bundesliga first for Dortmund.
BVB sold Erling Haaland to Manchester City ahead of this season but clearly have no shortage of young goalscorers, with Bynoe-Gittens picked out by Terzic for special praise.
“It’s basically very simple for him: he has the skills to decide games,” Terzic told DAZN.
“He’s a game-changer – and I wanted to see that from him. And not that he just plays the game, but that he makes the difference. He did that.”
Bynoe-Gittens only turned 18 on Monday, with team-mate Jude Bellingham (17 years, 285 days) the sole English player to score in the Bundesliga at a younger age.
Explaining his 64th-minute introduction in a news conference, Terzic added: “We simply opted for the quality of Jamie.
“In the first half, we had a few spaces between the lines where we stuck in the last line for too long.
“But Jamie is someone who can step in and turn up the heat with his first contact – and above all, he can speed up the game again. That’s how we imagined it.
“He animated the game very well and was involved in a lot of good offensive moves.”
Moukoko also earned plenty of plaudits, with two goal involvements in a single Bundesliga game for the first time. He only contributed two in the whole of last season.
“He’s a huge talent,” said new signing Anthony Modeste. “I think I can help him. I like to give him tips.”
Moukoko added: “We fought for the coach, for the fans and for us. In the end, you saw the emotions.
“We didn’t start the game well, and after Freiburg were 1-0 up, it got even more difficult. We needed luck today.
“After Jamie made it 1-1, we were fully in the game. I always felt like we could turn the game around.”