Borussia Dortmund reignited their hopes of finishing in the top four after thrashing Freiburg 4-1 in the Bundesliga to climb up to eighth in the standings on Saturday. 

Three goals in the second half did the damage for Dortmund, who recorded a confidence-boosting win ahead of their Champions League quarter-final first leg with Barcelona next week. 

Karim Adeyemi fired Dortmund ahead in the 34th minute, finishing from close range after collecting Maximilian Beier's scuffed shot from outside the box before scoring. 

After a dominant opening period, BVB doubled their lead six minutes after the restart when Carney Chukwuemeka's deflected effort evaded Florian Muller's grasp. 

The result was put beyond doubt by substitute Serhou Guirassy, who had the simple task of finishing from inside the box after being unselfishly set up by Julian Brandt. 

Jamie Gittens then rounded off a fine free-flowing move with a brilliant header from Julian Ryerson's lofted cross in the 78th minute. 

But Freiburg netted a late consolation through Maximilian Eggestein, but the damage had already been done by Dortmund, who moved up to 41 points. 

Mainz currently occupy fourth place in the division, five points further ahead of BVB with six games of their respective seasons remaining. 

Data Debrief: Dortmund continue Freiburg dominance

In what was the 50th Bundesliga fixture between these two sides, Dortmund continued their dominance against Freiburg, extending their longest unbeaten run against any team in the division to seven matches. 

They have also now scored at least three goals in each of their last seven top flight meetings against Freiburg (28 in total). They have only ever managed a longer such scoring run against Schalke, from 1964 to 1967 (seven games). 

In the end, Dortmund were worthy winners, ending the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 3.55 from their 18 shots to Freiburg's 1.4 from their 12 attempts.