“With our line-up we wanted to play well on the counter and remain compact in the middle and at the back. Then came the early red card, in my opinion there was a lack of proportionality in the decisions today. Before half time we closed down well but after that it was far too easy for Dortmund. We didn’t do enough with the ball,” summarised the gaffer after the game.

Christian Streich already revealed at his pre-match press conference that there would be changes to the starting line-up compared to the 3-1 win over Augsburg. They totalled three in the end: Vincenzo Grifo, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh and Nicolas Höfler came in for Yannik Keitel, Michael Gregoritsch and Maximilian Eggestein. While the latter two dropped to the bench, Keitel missed out through muscular problems.

BVB coach Edin Terzic was without the suspended Salih Özcan and Ryerson because of illness, meaning Raphael Guerreiro and Marco Reus came into the side.

Sildillia sent off, Schlotterbeck scores

Dortmund hasn’t been the happiest of hunting ground for SC in recent memory, and there was an early setback that suggested things wouldn’t be much different on this Saturday afternoon either. Kiliann Sildillia was shown two yellow cards in the space of 120 seconds and referee Robert Schröder reduced SC to ten men after just 17 minutes.

The hosts had already made the better start to the game, but that pressure now increased with their man advantage. Mark Flekken was able to tip a driven shot from Niklas Süle around the post. However, he wasn’t able to keep out Nico Schlotterbeck’s powerful effort at the near post following the resulting corner, leaving Freiburg trailing after 26 minutes.

Freiburg equalise but are blown away after the break

Despite the 1-0 deficit to overturn, the ten men of Freiburg held their own and remained switched on at the back. They were then rewarded shortly before the break, when Nicolas Höfler and Ritsu Doan combined well to play their way into the Dortmund penalty area. BVB failed to clear their lines and the ball fell to Lucas Höfler, who smashed it past Gregor Kobel and into the goal (45’). SCF were deservedly level at the break after an intense first half performance in front of their 5,000 travelling supporters.

The visitors, however, were dealt a blow not long into the second half when Borussia regained the lead. Adeyemi played a superb one-two with Jude Bellingham to break into the Freiburg penalty area and the 21-year-old kept his cool to slot is past Mark Flekken (48’). Things went from bad to worse for SCF just three minutes later, when Sébastien Haller glanced home a Guerreiro cross to make it 3-1 (51’).

Brandt and Reyna put the icing on the cake

Although SCF showed some fighting spirit against last year’s runners-up, they could do nothing about Julian Brandt’s sensational strike from 25 yards to put Borussia 4-1 up (69‘). Giovanni Reyna then compounded Freiburg’s misery with a goal just under ten minutes from time (82’).

Next up for Streich’s side is a trip north to face 2. Bundesliga side SV Sandhausen in the last 16 of the DFB-Pokal (Tuesday, 7th February, 18:00 CET).

Photo: Alex Gottschalk