1-0: Kehl deals knockout blow to Freiburg

Dennis-Julian Gottschlich reports from Freiburg

24,000 packed into the sold-out Mage Solar Stadium had little to enthuse about during a first half in which neither side could impose their attacking strategies. Chances were at a premium but as the second half developed BVB began to make more inroads into the Freiburg defence and so ultimately deserved their 1-0 win courtesy of a delightful strike from Kehl on 58 minutes.

The Scenario:

BVB arrived in Freiburg to play the second-from-bottom hosts in second place. The guests had not won any of their previous five games while the visitors had registered wins in four of their last five matches. Indeed, BVB had yet to drop a point to Freiburg in their last seven games (25:3 goals). Jürgen Klopp had only dropped points to Freiburg in one of eight games under his command, that being on the last day of the 2009-10 season when BVB suffered a 3-1 defeat. Christian Streich, the SC Freiburg coach, had yet to win a point against BVB.

Personnel Matters:

Already without Bender, Blaszczkowski, Gündogan, Subotic and Duksch, the visitors had also to make do without the services of Reus (muscle problem) and Lewandowski (slight knee strain). Schieber took the place of the Polish striker while on the other side, Freiburg were without Freis, Hedenstad, Pilar and Terrazzino.

Tactics:

Christian Streich opted to take on the almost legendary 4-2-3-1 BVB system with a basic 4-4-2 which could often be seen as a 4-2-2-2 with Darida and Schmid hugging the touchlines, Schuster and Fernandes in turn playing deep holding midfield positions.

The Game and Analysis:

Under clear blue skies and summery temperatures which prompted watching DFB coach Joachim Löw to don sunglasses with his scarf, BVB started slowly against a home side determined to start fast. In their 500^th Bundesliga game Freiburg defended stoutly and looked to profit from some careless possession play from BVB. But in terms of chances, Joachim Löw really only had one to enthuse over in the first half when after 6 minutes Sahin fired a free-kick into the arms of Baumann in the Freiburg goal.

In truth neither side could fashion good opportunities in the final third of the pitch so for much of the first half play was confined to a muddling midfield with both sides guilty of sloppy passing. Too often the only option to get the ball forward seemed to be the long ball from the back. The fact that Ginter and Hummels had most touches in the first half pretty much says it all.

Following the half-time oranges BVB mixed things up a little, challenging more determinedly for possession higher up the field and going forward much more often. Mkhitaryan duly forced the first save from Baumann when he let fly from 20 yards out on 55 minutes. Just three minutes later the improved pressing game paid dividends when good interplay down the left flank allowed Großkreutz to run the ball diagonally in field to where Kehl, standing some 28 yards out, nonchalantly lifted a superb first-time strike over the head of Baumann (too far of his line?: Maybe!) and into the net. It was the captain’s first goal of the season.

Substitute Hofmann ought to have extended the lead when on 75 minutes he narrowly failed to connect with a driven cross from Aubameyang but despite one last chance for Freiburg (thwarted by Weidenfeller’s quick reactions) it remained 1-0 to BVB until the referee finally put a poor game out of its misery just minutes after Hofmann had struck a tame shot over the bar.

Teams & Goals

Bundesliga, Matchday 24
SC FREIBURG – BORUSSIA DORTMUND  0-1 (0-0)

SC Freiburg: Baumann – Sorg, Krmas, Ginter, Günter – Schuster, Fernandes – Schmid, Darida - Zulechner, Mehmedi
Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller – Piszczek, Sokratis, Hummels, Schmelzer – Sahin, Kehl – Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan, Großkreutz – Schieber 
Substitutions: 66. Kerk for Darida, 70. Klaus for Zulechner, 76. Coquelin for Schuster - 63. Kirch for Sahin, 74. Hofmann for Schieber, 90.+3 Friedrich for Mkhitaryan
Goal: 0-1 Kehl (58., Großkreutz)
Corners: 1-5 (HT 1-2), Chances: 1-4 (0-0)
Referee: Gagelmann (Bremen), Yellow cards: Fernandes - Mkhitaryan, Sokratis
Attendance: 24,000 (sold-out), Weather: sunny, 21 degrees Celsius

Prospects:

Next Saturday BVB host Borussia Mönchengladbach (kick off 1530 CET) in the SIGNAL IDUNA PARK.