Borussia Dortmund continued their excellent form with a 3-1 victory over Freiburg at Signal Iduna Park on Friday night.
The visitors started much the brighter side, and should have taken the lead within five minutes, however Vincenzo Grifo’s tame effort when clean through was hit straight at Roman Bürki.
The home side eventually settled into the game, with Ousmane Dembélé and Emre Mor their most threatening outlets. However, the former lacked end product, blazing over after cutting inside from the left on more than one occasion, whilst many of his crosses failed to find their intended targets.
Mor on the other hand provided Dortmund’s attacking impetus in the first half an hour, first having a right-foot shot blocked behind for a corner after jinking his way past a few Freiburg defenders, before having another shot wickedly deflected onto the bar, this time with his left foot.
However, the best chance of the first thirty minutes fell to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Matthias Ginter robbed Nils Petersen of the ball before sliding in the Gabon international, who saw his chipped effort go marginally wide.
Petersen was also in action at the other end, forcing a fine save from Bürki following his left-footed drive.
The hosts were not to be denied before the break however, as tidy play from Mario Götze found Dembélé inside the box, whose ball across the face of goal was diverted home by Aubameyang on the slide one minute before the interval.
The second half saw Mor and Dembélé change wings, and the impact was almost immediate, but for a sharp save from Alexander Schwolow from the former’s powerful shot. Nevertheless, Dortmund extended their lead six minutes later.
A low cross from Gonzalo Castro was intercepted by Çağlar Söyüncü, but the Turk’s clearance fell straight to right-back Łukasz Piszczek, who side-footed home brilliantly.
With half an hour to play though, Freiburg halved the deficit through Maximilian Philipp. Schwolow’s clearance was well gathered by Janik Haberer, who slipped a ball through to the 22-year-old, who finished calmly into the bottom left-hand corner.
Freiburg had asked the question, and after Schwolow saved a potentially embarrassing own goal from a Georg Niedermeier header, Onur Bulut forced Bürki into a smart near-post save after a turn and shot from the Turk at the other end.
Fifteen minutes from the end, Aubameyang should have put the game to rest. After being found by an incisive Christian Pulisic pass, the Gabon international beat the last defender and rounded the goalkeeper, however, off balance, he sliced his left-foot shot wide.
Yet the hosts eventually scored their third goal to wrap up the victory in injury time thanks to substitute Raphaël Guerreiro. Julian Weigl played the ball into Aubameyang, whose flick found Castro, whose similar skill found Guerreiro, who finished calmly and settled all the home fans’ nerves and confirm a club record of 24 unbeaten home games.