Ousmane Dembele, Emre Mor Steal the Show as Borussia Dortmund Dispatch Freiburg

Borussia Dortmund continued their impressive run of form ahead of the big UEFA Champions League clash with Real Madrid on Tuesday, beating SC Freiburg 3-1 on Matchday 5 of the 2016/17 Bundesliga season on Friday evening.

Head coach Thomas Tuchel somewhat surprisingly opted for little rotation with the meeting with Los Blancos in mind, as Raphael Guerreiro was the only guaranteed starter to get some rest on the bench at the start of the game. 

In his place, Mario Gotze made his home debut after his sensational return to the club from a three-year exile at Bayern Munich, while Emre Mor made his full Dortmund debut on the right wing, relegating Christian Pulisic to the bench after three consecutive starts.

Most will have expected another spectacular performance from Dortmund following their 17 goals in seven days in blowout wins over Legia Warsaw, SV Darmstadt and VfL Wolfsburg. Freiburg, after all, are a promoted side that haven't won at Dortmund since 2001.

And it could easily have been another impressive scoreline for the Black and Yellows. Had Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's cheeky lob not missed the target by a whisker and Mor's deflected shot not clanged off the crossbar in the first half, as well as another hit of the woodwork by the Gabonese in the second period, the Ruhr side would likely have scored five or six again.

Per German sport magazine Kicker (in German), Dortmund fired away no fewer than 24 shots, compared to only 10 (in German) against Wolfsburg, for example.

Much like in the win earlier in the week, however, the Black and Yellows rode their luck to an extent.

Vincenzo Grifo missed a sitter after only five minutes, hitting the ball straight into the waiting hands of goalkeeper Roman Burki after a free run on goal. Everyone in the stadium expected an offside call, including the entirety of Dortmund's defence, but the ball seemed to have been touched last by Julian Weigl.

The Breisgau side mimicked RB Leipzig's winning game plan early on Friday, in that they applied intense pressure high up the pitch and tried to take Weigl out of the game. In turn, Dortmund looked sluggish out of the gates, as Tuchel conceded after the match, per DW Sports:

That said, Freiburg don't have the individual quality their fellow promoted side Leipzig boast and thus failed to make their early dominance count. Once Dortmund wrested control from them, the hosts never looked back.

Even though it took them until the dying moments of the first half to find the opening goal, the 30 minutes leading up to half-time were some of the more impressive they have produced this season.

Perhaps most encouraging, Dortmund were led by their young pair of wingers in that time span. Mor and Ousmane Dembele, each still only 19 years old, showed exactly why the Black and Yellows can count themselves lucky to have signed them.

With Freiburg dropping deeper and deeper, it was their courage to seek one-on-ones that produced the most dangerous situations. Dembele was more of a creative force, whipping in wicked crosses time and time again after dispatching of his markers, whereas Mor cut in from his wing to attempt shots himself.

Even though the end product was lacking for the Turkey international—apart from his deflected shot hitting the crossbar, his shots were either wide or blocked—he managed to suggest his immense talent. More important than any attacking situations were his contributions off the ball.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Mor is already making great strides in his defensive work rate, as he won back a number of balls thanks to aggressive counter-pressing. The big question with the 19-year-old was whether he would prove to be a liability at the Bundesliga level due to his lack of experience, so his performance against Freiburg was most encouraging.

He may well be the most interesting coaching project for Tuchel this season, a player with incredible natural ability but almost a blank canvas when it comes to the finer tactical points of the game. Fittingly, the 43-year-old was captured giving Mor instructions time and time again during the first half—and it wouldn't be a surprise if Mor's move to the left wing after the intermission was down to the proximity to his coach on the touchline as well.

Mor was much more reserved on the left wing, robbed of his go-to move to the inside, and generally looked "a bit overzealous, still," as ESPN FC's Stefan Buczko put it, but for a first start on the big stage, the Turkey international did fine.

Naturally, expectations are higher when it comes to Dembele. Even though the Frenchman is only a little over two months older, he has more experience at a high level, having broken through in Ligue 1 for Rennes last season.

He didn't disappoint on Friday, as he was arguably the most impressive attacker on the pitch.

Thanks to his fluid hips and incredible burst, he regularly dribbled past right-back Aleksandar Ignjovski with ease. With just a tad more accuracy and luck, he could have had a hat-trick of assists in the first half alone.

Much like his counterpart on the right wing, Debemele's decision-making in the final third continues to be a work in progress, as the France international at times seems to try to force things with hopeful efforts from range.

Dortmund can live with those as long as he uses his talents for the good of the team, as he did before Aubameyang's opening goal.

"

This picture is so great #BVB pic.twitter.com/8zluimO6Ct

— BvB_Miami (@1909Miami) September 23, 2016"

Receiving a pass from Gotze when the two had swapped positions for once, Dembele's first touch led him to the byline. He immediately opened his hips, chased the ball and put it on a plate for his striker, leaving but a tap-in for Aubameyang on a pass across the face of goal.

It was the least Dembele deserved for an impressive first-half performance, albeit one that came with a caveat. On another day, with another referee, he would have seen two bookings in a matter of seconds after mockingly applauding referee Christian Dingert for showing him a yellow card in the 38th minute.

That juvenile behaviour aside, Friday evening offered a glimpse into a glorious future for fans of the Black and Yellows, a future moulded in large part by Mor and Dembele, there can be no doubt. The video below shows some of their best action in the match:

However, there have to be some doubts about the more immediate future, as in the clash with Real on Tuesday. Dortmund not only allowed Freiburg the big chance to take the lead through Grifo, they also allowed the visitors to creep back into the game when Maximilian Philipp cut their lead in half with 30 minutes to go.

Team captain Marcel Schmelzer had failed to go into an aerial duel at the halfway line, and centre-back Ginter got his timing all wrong when he went down trying to tackle against Philipp.

The former Freiburg defender started in place of the injured Marc Bartra and performed well in terms of his ball-playing, but he continues to look shaky in defence in his third season at the club. Buczko rated his performance at six out of 10, noting that it was "a streaky evening" for the 2014 FIFA World Cup winner, delivering great passes "one minute and producing sloppy giveaways the next."

After Dortmund relied on Burki and woeful finishing from Wolfsburg earlier in the week and allowed a side with pedestrian individual talent such as Freiburg a chance to nick a result on Friday—although, to be fair, the Black and Yellows did well in keeping the ball away from goal before Guerreiro cemented the win late—an attacking line of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale looms large.

No one should be surprised if the game on Tuesday turns into a shootout. After scoring 20 goals in four games in 10 days, though, Dortmund seem armed.

Lars Pollmann also writes for The Yellow Wall. You can follow him on Twitter.