When second-placed Borussia Dortmund take on fourth-placed SC Freiburg on Friday evening (20:30 CET), it will be only the third time – after 1995 and 2010 – that the two teams have gone head-to-head while in the Bundesliga's top four.

Freiburg have been one of the surprise packages of this season. It is only the second time ever that the men from Breisgau have 30 or more points on the board by the 20th matchday. "They have been doing outstanding work in Freiburg for years and have consistently put a good squad together. The team looked well-versed and clearly function smoothly as a unit. That is down to the excellent coaching team led by Christian Streich," said BVB boss Marco Rose in praise of the opposition. "Freiburg are highly consistent and deserve to be up there thanks to their good results."

While Streich's charges have won both of their last two meetings with BVB, which have both taken place in Freiburg, the Black & Yellows are unbeaten at home against the men from Breisgau in over 20 years. The last and only defeat to Freiburg in Dortmund came on Matchday 10 of the 2001/02 season, when BVB were beaten 2-0. The objective will be to ensure this run is still intact once the final whistle sounds on Friday evening. To this end, Rose is continuing to work with his charges on their defensive play. "We need to defend better," explained the tactician – a reference to the 28 Bundesliga goals conceded this term. "We are currently still giving away too many chances from possession losses. If you want to have a lot of the ball, then defence must start with the attack. That means that losses of possession need to be neutralised better. We need to improve on that," said the coach as he outlined his approach to improving defensive stability. Because when pressed about the current style of play and the possibility of a more defensive approach, Rose was in no doubt: "Sitting back or becoming more passive is absolutely not an option."

Manuel Akanji could make his comeback in defence. The centre-back has returned to team training following his knee operation, "but we still need to assess how he reacts to the load on a daily basis". Raphael Guerreiro, meanwhile, was experiencing problems after the Frankfurt match last Saturday has been able to train "hardly if at all" this week. Despite making a full return to training, the Freiburg game comes too soon for Gio Reyna and Dan-Axel Zagadou. Marius Wolf and Youssoufa Moukoko, who played a half for the U23s in a friendly in midweek, are available to play again, however.
Christina Reinke

BVB TV by 1&1: Press conference prior to the Freiburg game