Borussia Dortmund escape against Freiburg with a draw

Expectations may have differed between different members of the Borussia Dortmund fanbase, but one thing remained clear: A win was a must. Freiburg has dismantled teams like RB Leipzig, Hoffenheim, and FC Köln this season, so a win would not come easy for Dortmund, and I think we all saw that play out.

A crazy ninja kick goal early on from Shinji Kagawa saw Dortmund go up 1-0, and things were looking pretty good. A little over ten minutes later would see Freiburg’s Nils Petersen equalize things. Mario Götze was subbed on for Gonzalo Castro at the start of the second half, and immediately started performing well (why didn’t he start?). After a fairly uneventful performance from Christian Pulisic, Yarmolenko came on in his stead. A minute later, a poor and predictable back pass from Nuri Sahin was intercepted and Nils Petersen scored an absolute beauty from the midfield, just narrowly beating Roman Bürki. Dortmund’s attack stagnated as they couldn’t get past Freiburg’s parked bus, and things looked pretty bad for Der BVB, even with Alexander Isak being subbed on in Sahin’s place. However, in dramatic fashion (and no shortage of luck), Jeremy Toljan put it away in stoppage time to earn Dortmund a point.

This match was frustrating to watch, and showed that Dortmund really hasn’t progressed since the days of Peter Bosz. Aubameyang started but received no service in the second half. Freiburg definitely deserved the win, but in the end will travel home with just a point. Dortmund will play FC Köln next week and let’s hope Stöger will have a good game plan on how to beat his former side, because they’re experiencing a sort of revival now.

I look forward to hearing from you guys below, just a reminder to keep it civil.