Borussia Dortmund took the final step on Sunday evening with a clear home win against SC Freiburg Champions League-Qualification gone. In its 1000th Bundesliga home game, BVB made things clear in the first half with a 4-0 (3-0) win. The dress rehearsal before the Europa League semi-final first leg in Braga (Thursday, 9 p.m.) was a failure for the guests – also because a number of top performers were spared.
Maximilian Beier (8th minute), Serhou Guirassy (14th) and Ramy Bensebaini (32nd) got Dortmund’s home success off the ground early with their goals. In a second half with few highlights, the Black and Yellows managed their lead without any problems. Shortly before the end, Fabio Silva scored the final point (87th).
Dortmund can no longer be pushed out of the CL place
After two Bundesliga defeats in a row, Dortmund gets rid of any remaining doubts about their participation in the Champions League in the coming season. In addition to the result, BVB coach Niko Kovac was impressed by his team’s approach in the Sportschau interview: “The team played a great game for 90 minutes today. I liked the way we acted.”
“One of our qualities is being able to accept certain things and evaluate them correctly“, SC coach Julian Schuster classified the result on the sports show microphone: “The conditions were demanding today. But we are also so self-critical that we say: We have to defend this better.” In the fight for seventh place in the Bundesliga, the Breisgauer team failed to pull away from Frankfurt. It is already clear that seventh place will at least be enough for Conference League qualification.
Dortmund ensures clear conditions from the start
Freiburg, who had changed seven positions compared to the cup defeat in Stuttgart, did not seem to be doing any good with the rotation prescribed by coach Julian Schuster. BVB pushed the guests on the defensive from the start and consequently took the lead early on: a long ball from Bensebaini completely eliminated Freiburg’s right defense, Beier gave Noah Atubolu no chance in a one-on-one.
Dortmund remained on the accelerator even after taking the early lead, while Freiburg’s defense continued to appear sleepy. After winning the ball in his own half, the 18-year-old BVB youngster Samuele Inacio drove the ball undisturbed into the opponent’s half and passed it to Julian Brandt on the right in the penalty area. The ex-national player, who was on his black and yellow farewell tour, crossed into the center, where Guirassy was not pressed by any of the Freiburg players who had rushed back. The Guinean thanked him and made it 2-0.
Serhou Guirassy scores his 15th goal of the season against Freiburg
The absence of Ginter and Co. is noticeable at Freiburg
Without top performers like Yuito Suzuki, Yohan Manzambi or defense chief Matthias Ginter (none of whom were in the squad), the guests presented a completely different picture than in the last, successful weeks in Freiburg. The first offensive approaches via Nicolas Höfler (24th) and Lucas Höler (29th) were harmless. Quite the opposite of BVB’s chances: Bensebaini headed in a sharp corner from Julian Ryerson after a good half hour for Dortmund’s third goal.
Only now did Borussia let up a bit and gave Freiburg their first good chance, with Höler forcing BVB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel to react quickly after a throw-in cross. Still, shots on goal went into the break at 11:3, giving Dortmund a well-deserved 3-0 lead.
Used day for Freiburg: Kübler’s goal doesn’t count
The great tension was gone in the second round given that Freiburg were not competitive that day. Although the guests showed improvement and at least scored an offside goal through Lukas Kübler (55th), there was no real comeback in the air. Instead, Dortmund could have followed up three minutes later, but Bensebaini hit the post with his header from another Ryerson corner.
Not a nice game for Freiburg’s Lukas Kübler and Lucas Höler
And yet: Dortmund also let the game unravel a bit in the second half, and there were hardly any sporting highlights left. When he was substituted in the final stages, Inacio received well-deserved applause for a successful debut in the starting eleven. Maximilian Philipp played his first Bundesliga minutes on the Freiburg side after months of commuting between the stands and the substitutes’ bench. In addition, Mathis Albert (Dortmund, 16 years old) and Rouven Tarnutzer (Freiburg, 18) were each able to celebrate their professional debut as jokers.
In the final minutes of the game, substitute Silva scored the final point in Dortmund’s anniversary game, which also marked Dortmund’s 600th Bundesliga home win, after a beautiful Dortmund attack from Beier, Carney Chukwuemeka and Daniel Svensson from a central position. “We won’t let this upset us“, summarized Freiburg’s captain Christian Günter.”We have extremely important weeks ahead of us, games in which everything is on the line.“
Dortmund in Mönchengladbach, Freiburg against Wolfsburg
After the Europa League highlight in Braga, Freiburg will face VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday evening (5.30 p.m.), before SCF hosts the Portuguese for the second leg in Breisgau (May 7th). Dortmund will be guests at Borussia Mönchengladbach on Sunday evening (5.30 p.m.) and will work on their next goal of being runners-up. “We want to defend this place, we need points to do that – and we will do that“Kovac said he was confident about this.
