Bundesliga: So Good to Be Back Home for Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund vs SC Freiburg

Signal Iduna Park has been a fortress for Borussia Dortmund this season, which is perhaps as well as Nuri Sahin’s side has been pretty woeful on the road.

Five wins from five at home, in front of the famous Yellow Wall, has failed to mask a serious case of inconsistency for Die Schwarzgelben who have lost four and drawn one on the road. It’s a real case of homesickness which means BVB are currently seventh in the Bundesliga table, one point behind SC Freiburg in fifth place and Bayer Leverkusen in fourth.

So Sahin’s boys will be delighted to be back on home turf this Saturday when Freiburg are the visitors to Dortmund. They are way off the pace at the moment but another home win could spark a top four charge in Borussia’s run up to Christmas.    

 

Talking Points

Borussia’s injury crisis is easing  

The latest Bundesliga 2024 betting odds rate BVB as fourth favourites to win the title with Bayer Leverkusen still the most likely team to upset Bayern Munich, for the second season in succession. They are ten points behind leaders Bayern and that is a huge gap at this stage of the campaign but Dortmund have had their fair share of injuries over the first ten games. Sahin has been boosted by the news that influential forward Karim Adeyemi and experienced stopper Gregor Kobel could be in line for a return against Freiburg. The Switzerland keeper was in Nations League action this week while Adeyemi has successfully returned to training following his recovery from a thigh strain, though Freiburg may be a little too early for the Germany international.

In addition, defender Waldemar Anton and attacking midfielder Gio Reyna are both back in training and English winger Jamie Bynoe-Gittens is on the grass too. He didn’t link up with England’s U21 squad last week but Gittens is in full training and, after an impressive start to the campaign, the 20-year-old will undergo a late fitness test. The return of Gittens would be good news for striker Serhou Guirassy who have started well since his transfer from VfB Stuttgart, scoring six league goals and nine in 13 starts in all competitions.       

 

Grifo is Freiburg’s heartbeat  

After replacing Christian Streich as head coach at Freiburg, Julian Schuster has led his team to a strong start over the first ten games and he has high hopes of earning a European place in his first campaign in charge. Captained by left back and one club man Christian Gunter, this is a group not of personalities but with a superb team ethic. The star quality comes from another Freiburg stalwart, Italian winger Vincenzo Grifo who has been in Freiburg since 2019. Over the past couple of seasons Grifo has been in his best form and, at 31 years of age he has bags of experience. With his natural flair, dribbling skills and eye for a goal, as well as his world class dead ball abilities, Grifo is a constant attacking threat and he is Freiburg’s most productive player with three goals and five assists so far this term.

He’s rarely out of the Bundesliga 2024 news and Grifo clearly loves his club. Freiburg’s recent clash with Union Berlin was a chance for both teams to prove their top four credentials but they played out a 0-0 draw. Freiburg could have won the game but Grifo saw a penalty saved and after the game he was distraught, saying: “It’s very bitter and disappointing because we could have picked up three points. I’m going to lie in bed tonight and still be annoyed.”

It was Grifo’s second penalty miss of the season and the fifth in a row missed by Freiburg. But if they get another chance from 12 yards on Saturday, my money is on Grifo to step up.    

 

History

Dortmund have had the better of their head-to-head meetings with Freiburg over the past three decades, winning 32 matches to seven and there have been 11 draws and, last season, Die Schwarzgelben did the double over Freiburg with a 3-0 win at home and a 4-2 victory away.  

Recent form has not been so good for Dortmund with two wins and four defeats in their last six, while Freiburg have won three, drawn two and lost one over that period.     

 

Betting Tip

At SBOTOP odds of 1.57 Dortmund are hot favourites to leapfrog Freiburg on Saturday, with the draw at 3.85 and a Freiburg win at 4.38.  

While BVB have been out of sorts on the road they won two of their last three games, including a victory over second placed Red Bull Leipzig, and I think they will relish another clash with a top four rival in front of the Yellow Wall.

   

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