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Dortmund made to work for win against Freiburg

Mark MeadowsSeptember 23, 2016

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on target again as the hosts prevailed 3-1 against the well-drilled promoted outfit. Dortmund have now won four out of five in the league but lacked the pizzazz of recent games.

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Deutschland Dortmund - 1. Bundesliga - Borussia Dortmund gegen SC Freiburg
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/I. Fassbender

Dortmund 3-1 Freiburg
(Aubameyang 45, Piszczek 53', Guerreiro 90+1' - Philipp 60)

Striker Aubameyang netted his fifth goal of the Bundesliga season in only the fifth game of the campaign to help send Dortmund onto 12 points, but they were given a far tougher test than of late.

Freiburg's Vincenzo Grifo had a glorious early chance but his shot was woefully weak. If that had gone in the result could have been different, but as it was Dortmund were able to largely take control of the game as they set a club record of 24 home matches unbeaten.

Aubameyang netted the opener from close range on 45 minutes after good work from speedy winger Ousmane Dembele and Mario Götze, making his first appearance as a Dortmund player at home since April 2013.

Dortmund's second goal came after Caglar Söyüncü failed to clear sufficiently and Lukasz Piszczek had an easy finish.

But the visitors would not lie down and Max Philipp pulled one back on the hour after a mistake by former Freiburg defender Matthias Ginter.

They never really came close to an equalizer though and Dortmund sealed the win with in-form newboy Raphael Guerreiro again proving he is an awful lot more than a left-back with Dortmund's third in injury time.

The hosts deserved their victory, even if there were little of the fireworks which had led Thomas Tuchel's side to score 17 goals across their previous three matches in all competitions.

In fairness though, Dortmund could have scored more with Turkey wideman Emre Mor, making his first league start, clipping the bar with a deflected effort and Aubameyang also hitting a post.

A hard-won encounter against the determined promoted side will stand Dortmund in good stead for trickier matches in the future and will reduce the hype which threatened to engulf the club following wins of 6-0, 6-0 and 5-1.

Yes they are clearly going to be Bayern Munich's main challengers again this season but the defence is still to be really tested and their array of attacking talent will not always fire, as proved by the 1-0 defeat at RB Leipzig on Matchday 2.