When referee Tobias Stieler officially declared the game over, BVB coach Edin Terzic was hugely relieved.
After the away game in Freiburg was set on a third draw in a row and subsequent discussions about him, his team gave him the redeeming three points – and showed plenty of character in the final phase.
The latter saw the red card shortly before the end (82nd) after an overly hard tackle on Marcel Sabitzer and thus involuntarily initiated the turnaround. While the BVB oldies celebrated at the end, Sébastien Haller had an afternoon to forget.
Three things that stood out at SC Freiburg – Borussia Dortmund.
1.) Country for Old Men
It was the elderly men who averted Dortmund’s next setback in the still young season.
Hummels with his second goal of the afternoon and Reus, who not only made the final score, but also initiated his long-time colleague’s 3-2 with a free kick.
The double was a career milestone for Hummels, as he set two records at the same time. At 34 years and 274 days, he replaced Frank Mill as the oldest double-winner in the Dortmund club’s history, and he also scored at least one goal in the 16th Bundesliga season in a row. To date, only five other players in Germany’s top team have achieved this (most recently Olaf Thon from 1984/85 – 1999/2000).
“Three points and two goals,” the man of the match wrote on Twitter afterwards. The bare numbers, but not the sole reason for Hummels’ top performance. Hummels also knew how to impress with other values: the veteran recorded the most successful tackles (2), the most clearing actions (6) and had a tackle rate of 70 percent.
2.) Haller doesn’t get going
In the second half of last season, after recovering from cancer, Haller became a reliable scorer with nine goals and played a huge role in Dortmund keeping the fight for the championship open until the end.
However, the Ivorian is currently still far from his top form. The current season has a meager record of zero goals. Two weeks ago against Heidenheim there was no sign of Haller on the offensive; he finally took the penalty in his own penalty area that made it 2-2.
Nevertheless, Terzic also relied on the 29-year-old in the duel with Freiburg. But Haller did not repay the trust and instead took on the role of the phantom.
Haller only managed two shots on goal and only had 20 ball actions in total. Together with Karim Adeyemi, who has also been looking for form, Haller was off work after less than an hour. Niklas Füllkrug came into the game for the former Ajax and Frankfurt striker – and provided the assist to make it 2-2 with his first action.
3.) Learning-resistant Dortmunders
After the game, Hummels revealed on the “Sky” microphone that Terzic had actually drawn the team’s attention to Freiburg’s strength.
“They made it 1-1 from a half-court cross and then we gave them a free kick,” explained Hummels. He explained: “Although the clear message was that we should prevent easy or stupid set pieces. Because with Grifo they have one of the best set piece shooters in the league.”
Terzic’s announcement didn’t seem to go unnoticed by his protégés. Not for the first time this season that such an impression has arisen. The Revierklub has to accept the accusation of resistance to learning.
But: There was also clear progress in Freiburg compared to the last two games against Bochum and Heidenheim. Dortmund didn’t give up and bit their way back into the game.
“We suddenly had to chase down 1-2, but we were committed to it. The most important thing was that we were ready for a game like this in Freiburg,” was Hummels’ final conclusion.
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