Lackadaisical Borussia Dortmund held to 2-2 draw by SC Freiburg
By Tushar Bahl
Borussia Dortmund conceded yet another late equaliser as SC Freiburg came from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw at the Schwarzwald-Stadion.
Looking to build on Wednesday’s win over Slavia Praha, Lucien Favre made two changes to his Borussia Dortmund side, with Mario Götze and Thorgan Hazard coming in for Julian Brandt and Jadon Sancho. The Black and Yellows started the game on the front foot, with Freiburg happy to let them have the bulk of possession.
Borussia Dortmund were forced into an early change when Lukasz Piszczek injured his groin and was replaced by Julian Brandt, with Achraf Hakimi moving back to right back.
Dortmund continued to dominate proceedings and had nine corners in the first half alone. They finally took advantage in the 20th minute when Axel Witsel opened the scoring with a sumptuous volley from Thorgan Hazard’s corner.
Despite Borussia Dortmund’s dominance, Freiburg created plenty of chances themselves. Just before Witsel’s opener, Waldschmidt had the chance to give the hosts the lead, but he fired his shot just over the bar after going clean through. Christian Günter also came close to scoring, but Borussia Dortmund held on to take a half time lead.
Freiburg came back from the interval determined to get back on level terms. And they got their reward ten minutes into the second half, with Luca Waldschmidt finding the net from the edge of the box after some lovely link up play.
Lucien Favre’s response was to bring on Jadon Sancho, and the young Englishman made an immediate impact, finding Achraf Hakimi in space, before the Moroccan international glided past Günter, before cutting inside and finding the net with a deflected effort.
With Borussia Dortmund seemingly happy to sit back and rest on their laurels, Freiburg continued to pile the pressure in search of a late equaliser. And just as it looked like the Black and Yellows would get the three points, Vincenzo Grifo’s cross was inadvertently deflected into his own net by Manuel Akanji, giving the hosts a well deserved equaliser.
Next. Player Ratings from Borussia Dortmund's 2-2 draw against SC Freiburg. dark
The goal lifted SC Freiburg into second place, while Borussia Dortmund were made to rue defensive mistakes for the third game running. They now head into the international break with more and more pressure piling on both the head coach and the players.