A furious first half powers BVB to 4-0 home win over Freiburg | OneFootball

Personnel mattersCompared to the away match at Hoffenheim (2-1), head coach Niko Kovac made four changes to the line-up: Serhou Guirassy, Julian Brandt, first-team debutant Samuele Inacio and Ramy Bensebaini came into the team in place of Fabio Silva, Carney Chukwuemeka, Daniel Svensson and Niklas Süle. Süle (knee ligament injury) was one of four absentees, alongside Karim Adeyemi (muscle problems), Emre Can (cruciate ligament rupture) and Felix Nmecha (knee ligament rupture).

The matchDortmund dominated possession in the opening stages, with Maxi Beier playing high up in the so-called "Svensson position." This approach paid off early on: Bensebaini played a strong, long ball from deep in his own half to the left of centre, finding Beier on the run; he had a clear path to an early 1-0 lead and kept his cool in front of Atubolu in the Freiburg goal (8). Six minutes later: a ball won in front of their own penalty area, another long pass to the left, to Inacio, who marched towards the penalty area and played it to the right to Brandt. Guirassy forced the cross over the line with his outstretched foot (14).

Freiburg’s right-sided attacker Scherhant was pinned deep in his own half, tasked with marking Beier. Tactically, Beier operated almost level with Guirassy, in front of Inacio. And Inacio almost set up the third goal, but Julian Ryerson’s shot from 13 metres went over the bar (16). In the clash between the two teams with the most goals from corners this season, a Ryerson cross after half an hour led to the 3-0. Bensebaini headed the corner into the net from inside the six-yard box (32).

Jobe Bellingham didn’t play a single misplaced pass in the first half. The teams went into the break with BVB having 62% possession and eleven shots to Freiburg’s three. The second half began at a much more leisurely pace, lacking the determination of the first. After 55 minutes, the ball did find its way into the BVB net, but Freiburg’s header scorer Lienhart had been marginally offside when Grifo delivered his free-kick cross.

Inacio’s shot was blocked at the last moment (60). Although BVB had more possession in the second half too, they were cautious with it. It wasn’t until the 87th minute that substitute Chukwuemeka and Beier really turned up the heat, and after a six-man passing move, Fabio Silva finished from a turn to make it 4-0.

OutlookBVB have another Sunday fixture coming up this weekend: the Borussia derby kicks off at 17:30 CEST in Mönchengladbach (live on DAZN).

BORUSSIA DORTMUND 4–0 (3-0) SC FREIBURG

Bundesliga, Matchday 31 BVB: Kobel – Anton, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini – Ryerson, Sabitzer, Bellingham (88, Özcan), Beier (88, Albert) – Inacio (74, Svensson), Brandt (83, Chukwuemeka) – Guirassy (83, Silva)Substitutes: Meyer, Couto, Mane, Reggiani

SCF: Atubolu – Kübler, Ogbus, Lienhart (75, Jung), Günter – Eggestein, Höfler (84, Tarnutzer) – Scherhant (75, Irié), Höler, Grifo (67, Beste) – Matanovic (67, Philipp)Substitutes: Müller, Steinmann, Treu