MOTM Poll: Borussia Dortmund Lose Twice in One Week as They Fall 2-1 Against Freiburg

Borussia Dortmund needed to pick themselves up after Tuesday’s DFL-Supercup loss against Bayern Munich as they traveled to the Black Forest to take on a Christian Streich led Freiburg side in the Bundesliga. However, Die Schwarzgelben looked zapped of energy, and while they were able to create some chances, the hosts were barely troubled. Mistakes, particularly in transition, cost Dortmund early on when a clumsy Felix Passlack challenge gave Freiburg a free kick in a dangerous area. Vincenzo Grifo promptly accepted it as he curled home a beautiful stunner that new BVB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel could do nothing about. It was more of the same as the hosts harried Dortmund’s lethargic build up play and won balls in transition and they were finally rewarded when Roland Sallai doubled Freiburg’s lead in the 53rd minute. A Yannik Keitel own goal gave the visitors hope just before the hour mark, but it was not to be, and once again Freiburg beat Borussia Dortmund at home. Here are the candidates for Man of the Match:

Jude Bellingham

The young Englishman ran his socks off and proved why box-to-box midfielders are worth their weight in gold. A little more end product from the 18 year old and Dortmund may have won this game. Bellingham had a mazy dribble early in the match through the entire Freiburg defense, only to be denied by the goalkeeper. Bellingham also met a Giovanni Reyna corner well, but his effort hit the post. The own goal in the second half was a direct result of one of his many runs into the box, and while he missed the ball, the defender didn’t and put it into the net.

Giovanni Reyna

Produced some delightful balls from many areas of the pitch, including well taken corners. The deeper role forces Reyna to do more defensive work but he is still able to make things happen when going forward as well, unfortunately his strikers were not able to get on the end of things much. His ball over the top of everyone was an absolute peach that put Erling Haaland in one-on-one against the goalkeeper, but the Norwegian skied it and I am not sure if it has even landed yet.

Manuel Akanji

Akanji was everywhere today, and while he wasn’t perfect, you could see he was trying to stay composed despite being left hanging constantly by both full backs and his center back partner. The Swiss international had some really key tackles in transition that kept Dortmund in the game longer than they maybe should have been, and Marco Rose really needs to look at player positioning or this could be a theme all season long. Anyone recall the Peter Bosz era?

Gregor Kobel

When a goalkeeper gets selected for MOTM it usually means one of two things: Either he produced a world class day and potentially several double save scenarios that kept the team in the match, or everyone else was crap. Today, it was the latter, as no one really did anything of note, and while Kobel gave up two goals, there was nothing he could do on either. Had a solid save on Grifo’s free kick late to keep BVB in the game.

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