Borussia Dortmund have overcome their latest challenge by securing a 3-1 (1-0) victory over Freiburg in the Bundesliga on Matchday 5 and will now go into Tuesday's UEFA Champions League clash with Real Madrid full of confidence after winning their last four games. The latest victory saw them extend their unbeaten run to 24 home games, equalling the club record.

The first 15 minutes aside, the Black and Yellows were the much stronger team in front of 80,800 spectators at an under-capacity Signal Iduna Park (1,380 tickets came back from Freiburg), hardly letting their opponents get into their stride and taking a highly-deserved 1-0 lead shortly before the break through Aubameyang (45). Piszczek doubled the advantage after the restart (53) before Philipp pulled one back for Freiburg minutes later (60), but Borussia secured all three points in the 90th minute when Guerreiro slotted home.

Dennis-Julian Gottschlich reports

The scenario: 
Third vs ninth. Borussia Dortmund had three wins to their name, while Sport-Club Freiburg had won twice (at home). BVB had won their previous ten Bundesliga matches against Freiburg – their only longer winning run came against Uerdingen between 1989 and 1996 (11 wins).

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Weigl pulled the strings in defensive midfield.

Personnel matters: 
Reus (lack of match fitness), Bender (ankle), Durm (knee operation), Subotic (chest operation) and Schürrle (strained ligament) were still missing for BVB, who were also without Bartra and Ramos (adductor injuries). Ginter, Castro and Mor were brought into the starting XI. The visitors were shorn of the services of Kempf (rehabilitation), while the clash also came too soon for Föhrenbach, Kübler, Torrejon and Nielsen (all lack of match fitness).

Tactics:
Thomas Tuchel once again adopted a 4-1-4-1 formation in which youngsters Mor and Dembélé looked particularly effective on the wings, causing the Freiburg rearguard real headaches time and time again by making strong dribbling runs and crosses. Christian Streich, however, opted for a 4-2-3-1 system. Freiburg tried to switch the play at speed and attack early, which they only really succeeded in doing in the opening stages, but often camped eight or nine players around their own penalty area when the hosts had the ball.

The match & analysis:
SC Freiburg made a highly committed start to the match, often attacking the BVB players in possession early on and forcing them into mistakes. This resulted in a ricochet landing at the feet of Grifo, who was clean through on goal, in the fifth minute but he failed to beat Bürki from an unmarked position.

After the opening 15 minutes, Borussia Dortmund began to take greater control, pressing their opponents back into their own half and creating a spate of good chances. Mor looked especially lively, repeatedly running rings around his opponents and cutting in from the wing to shoot. His shot after 20 minutes went narrowly wide before an opponent deflected his next effort onto the crossbar three minutes later. Beforehand, Aubameyang had latched onto a brilliant pass from Ginter but chipped the ball millimetres wide of the post (18) and Schwolow in the Freiburg goal had dealt with a Dembélé cross at the last minute.

Aubameyang scores on 100th appearance

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Piszczek scored for the second game in a row. Prior to that he hadn't scored for one and a half years.

The Black and Yellows tired Sport-Club out by keeping them completely confined to their own half. But the opening goal would not come in the first half an hour, with Piszczek's shots – both coming after corners – deflected away from danger by a Freiburg player at the last minute (23/28). However, the goal did eventually come before the interval, Götze outmanoeuvring two opponents before playing a precise ball into the box, where Dembélé played it on to the onrushing Aubameyang to slot home his 59th Bundesliga goal from close range in what was his 100th league game for the club (45).

After the restart BVB initially picked up from exactly where they had left off before, with Dembélé first being denied by Schwolow (47) and then missing from the edge of the box (51). But Piszczek soon doubled the hosts' lead, the Pole initiating the move himself with a fine ball to Castro, who squared it across the box. Though Söyüncü got in the way, he cleared the ball directly into the path of Piszczek, who fired home from around ten metres out (53).

Borussia strong until the end

The two-goal lead was a relief, but a moment of carelessness in the BVB rearguard suddenly allowed Sport-Club back into the game. Philipp charged into the penalty area from the right, kept his cool in a one-on-one with Bürki and fired the ball into the far corner from a narrow angle to make it 2-1 (60). Aubameyang could have restored the hosts' two-goal cushion just three minutes later when Niedermeier put his own goalkeeper on the spot, but he could only hit the outside of the post with his follow-up (63).

The match opened up in the closing stages, although BVB remained the better side. Bürki made a strong save from Niederlechner (73), then Niedermeier made a committed block from Castro (74) and Aubameyang failed to round the Schwolow, who did well to force the BVB man's shot from seven metres narrowly wide (76). Towards the end Freiburg began to wane and Borussia were able to see the victory out without too much trouble. Aubameyang could have made it 3-1, only for Niedermeier to get in the way at the last second (87). It didn't matter, though because shortly afterwards Guerreiro was on hand to round off a wonderful move involving Aubameyang and Castro and score the decisive third (90).

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Prospects:
Next up for BVB is a UEFA Champions League home clash with Real Madrid (20:45 CET). They then travel to Leverkusen to take on Bayer in the Bundesliga a week on Saturday (1/10, 18:30 CET).

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