2023-09-17 14:12:00
Savior Mats Hummels (l.) scored twice in Dortmund’s away win.
Photo: imago/ RHR-Foto
At the end there was a “2:4” on the scoreboard, below the Dortmund players let their fans celebrate after the victory in Freiburg. 4:2, that sounds clear. But late on Saturday afternoon it was a little deceptive that just a few minutes before the end every spectator had the impression that there were two teams on the pitch that would actually have been happy with a division of points. This certainly applied to the Freiburg team, who were reduced by a red card following a severe foul by Nicolas Höfler on Marius Wolf. But BVB also made no move to push for victory with all their might.
He didn’t have to, because Freiburg happily took over Dortmund’s job and defeated themselves in the final phase by giving the guests two more goals from Marco Reus and Mats Hummels. Previously, Hummels scored his first goal and Donyell Malen scored for Dortmund. “There are not many teams that can win here and catch up,” said a relieved coach Edin Terzić, whose team had already achieved this in the same place last season. And of course Terzić didn’t forget to praise the double goalscorer Mats Hummels: “It helps to have someone on the pitch who has experienced everything. He is also someone who is good for five or six goals a season.” This is also statistically proven: as of last weekend, Hummels was one of the six players who have scored at least one goal in 16 consecutive Bundesliga years. Meanwhile, Hummels himself apparently has the feeling that he has already said everything. In any case, he was once again not available to journalists on Saturday. Sports director Sebastian Kehl, who started his Bundesliga career as a player in Freiburg in 2000, was satisfied: “You have to survive against such a strong opponent first. The team isn’t at 100 percent yet, but I think we’ve taken a big step forward.”
The spectators in the late summer west of Freiburg saw a game between two struggling teams. Dortmund noticed the uncertainty after the two draws against Bochum and Heidenheim, Freiburg’s recent 5-0 defeat at VfB Stuttgart. SC coach Christian Streich apparently identified Vincenzo Grifo as one of the faces of the defeat in Swabia – the Italian initially sat on the bench. However, it only lasted about half an hour. Then Michael Gregoritsch had to leave the field, Grifo came and promptly prepared Freiburg’s two header goals shortly before half-time. The game seemed turned. And that because BVB slowed down after taking the early lead and really brought Freiburg into the game. Terzić emphasized that it wasn’t planned for his team to play so cautiously in this phase: “What I don’t like is that we couldn’t maintain control after taking the lead early on. We slept twice when we conceded goals.”
However, from Dortmund’s point of view, these things remained a side note, because after Dortmund’s equalizer came the ten minutes that decided the game in BVB’s favor. After the red card for Höfler, all dams broke at Freiburg – and this season there is a young goalkeeper who was not done any favors when he was announced as a future national player before the first Bundesliga game. In Dortmund’s 3-2 win, Hummels’ second goal, Noah Atubolu didn’t look helpless for the first time this season. Shortly afterwards, there was another action in the penalty area before the entire Freiburg defense stopped working when Marco Reus made it 4-2. All of that was actually reason enough for Christian Streich to say that we would probably be facing a “tough season” if we followed miserable games like against Stuttgart with games in which we lost undeservedly but because of our own mistakes. BVB, on the other hand, is facing a difficult away game. It’s on Tuesday in der Champions League away against Paris St. Germain.
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