Lucas Höler denies Dortmund with wonder goal

Niko Kovač handed rare league starts for Emre Can and Carney Chukwuemeka in Borussia Dortmund’s midfield. Felix Nmecha and Jobe Bellingham also maintained their places, while Serhou Guirassy is back on the starting lineup, which means Fábio Silva dropped to an attacking midfielder role.

The Guinean striker had the game’s first chance before Gregor Kobel denied Johan Manzambi, who had found the net in three consecutive league games. A few minutes later, the Swiss went into the referee’s notebook alongside Yan Couto.

Guirassy squandered a far easier chance than he had at the start of the game, but he was involved in a move that nearly put the visitors ahead. After a one-two with the out-of-form striker, Chukwuemeka, who scored his first goal for the club at Europa-Park Stadion last term, hit the post from a tight angle.

Dortmund scored in each of their games in all competitions this season, and that run continued with a linkup of two defenders. Freiburg failed to deal with Yan Couto’s wide free-kick as Ramy Bensebaini had all the time to net his first league goal of the season before joining Algeria’s squad for the African Cup of Nations.

Freiburg’s attempt at finding an equalizer before the break was unsuccessful. Yuito Suzuki was unable to test Kobel from a couple of promising attacks before Christian Günter’s ferocious shot narrowly missed the target.

Julian Schuster’s side are unbeaten at home since a 3-1 defeat to the then-Sandro Wagner’s Augsburg in the opening matchday. And they hoped that streak would continue when Bellingham was sent off for a professional foul on Philipp Treu. Kobel’s untimely pass forced the Englishman to make the challenge as a last man.

The hosts dominated proceedings with their superior man advantage, but they weren’t able to create a clear-cut chance until Kobel denied Treu with a magnificent save in the 69th minute. Dortmund’s shot-stopper continued to make amends for his mistake with another decent save from Suzuki’s attempt to force it into the crossbar.

However, the Swiss international had no chance to save Lucas Höler’s wonder goal. The striker finally ended his goal drought with a remarkable turn and acrobatic effort to level the score for the hosts.

Igor Matanović thought he scored the winner from a goalmouth scramble in Dortmund’s box five minutes before time, but the goal was chalked off for an offside call. Dortmund remain in third as they failed to take advantage of RB Leipzig's defeat away at Union Berlin.

Dortmund will end the year with a home game against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday. Freiburg will be away at Wolfsburg, who came off back-to-back wins for the first time this season, before the winter break.