Dortmund vs Freiburg Review: Closer than expected

After three blow-out wins this one was a bit tougher, which was to be expected. Freiburg is known to be scrappy and today's game showed you why. However in the end Tuchel's squad prevailed and was able to keep the three points in Dortmund en route to equalizing a BVB record with now 24 Bundesliga home games without a loss.

A rough start

Freiburg came out swinging while our boys seemed a bit rusty in the opening minutes of today's game.

Christian Streich seemed to have borrowed the blueprints of RB Leipzig's strategy for playing against Dortmund. Freiburg tried to press high and mark Julian Weigl, while Sokratis and Ginter were under constant pressure and doing a sub-par job of finding the open man in midfield. This resulted in some early mistakes that could've cost them dearly tonight. The boys in black and yellow lost the ball way to early and dangerously close to their own goal.

Vincenzo Grifo had the best opportunity in the fifth minute when he had nothing but space between him and an early lead. The entire defensive line thought Grifo was offside but the ball came from Weigl, making any hopes of that being the case moot. However Bürki showed again that he has taken the next step over the summer. He stayed calm and parried Grifo's admittedly weak attempt with ease.

After the shaky opening minutes, Dortmund was able to calm the game down and find their groove in the build-up play. Especially the two youngsters on the wing, Ousmane Dembélé and Emre Mor turned up the heat with several amazing runs. Freiburg had to secure the wings while also accounting for Götze and Castro in the middle which forced them to move back and essentially abandon the high press.

However one of BVB's best chances came on the counter when Ginter intercepted a ball in midfield and immediately showed off his passing skills with an excellent through ball to Aubameyang. PEA fired up the rockets that are strapped to his boots and 81.359 fans were getting ready to cheer another goal. Which didn't happen. The Gabon international was able to lob the ball over Freiburg-keeper Schwolow but he missed the goal.

It wasn't until the last minute of the first half when Auba vindicated himself for missing the aforementioned opportunity. A nice through ball from Götze and a perfect first touch from Dembélé opened up some space on the left side of the box. The young Frenchman had no trouble finding Aubameyang in the middle for the easy tap in, who has now raised his season tally to five.

Freiburg won't give up

Dortmund started the second half where they left things off in the first. They controlled possession and dominated the game.

In the 53rd minute Piszczek dashed forward on the right side. He was able to pass it to a wide-open Castro after one of tonight's rare breakdowns in Freiburg's defense. Castro's intended cross for Aubameyang was deflected but fortunately Piszczek didn't stop his forward run and was there to take advantage of the situation. It was now the second goal in as many games, someone has been spying on Auba's techniques.

If you thought it was all fun and games from there, I have bad news for you.

Unfortunately Matthias Ginter showed us again why we really need one of Bartra or Bender to get ready for the Real Madrid game. A through ball from Haberer to Philipp exposed Ginter's bad positioning in the 60th minute, leaving him with no option other than to tackle and hope for the best. He missed and Maximilian Philipp, who is one of Freiburg's brightest young talents, had no trouble getting passed Bürki and pull one back for the Breisgauer.

From there on out the three points were on shaky ground. The black and yellows still dominated possession but one mistake could cost them. Freiburg smelled blood and tried everything to stage the upset in the Westfalenstadion.

Those hopes were squashed by a young Portuguese player who is well on his way to become a new fan-favorite in Dortmund. Guerreiro capped off an amazing play that included two consecutive back-heel passes from Aubameyang and Castro to set it up.

Just watch.

Yeah, football is fun.

Side note: After the game Tuchel said that he hopes Bartra will be ready for Real Madrid. It isn't a sure thing but at least there is a possibility of him starting.