Substitutes Save Thomas Tuchel in Controversial Late Borussia Dortmund Win

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Borussia Dortmund certainly fit that description in their 2-0 victory over FC Ingolstadt on Saturday.

They were at least a little lucky and certainly didn't play well against the promoted side but still came away with their eighth win in front of their own fans in Signal Iduna Park this season.

In a few weeks, the game will be forgotten among the Black and Yellows supporters—the busy schedule will see to that—but head coach Thomas Tuchel shouldn't gloss over what transpired on the day.

The 42-year-old had anticipated Ingolstadt to change their attitude for the game, telling German broadcaster Sky beforehand he didn't expect the Schanzer to defend in the same aggressive way high up the pitch that has worked so well for them in the season so far.

With that in mind, he selected a peculiar XI, in which Matthias Ginter and Adrian Ramos replaced Ilkay Gundogan and Marco Reus, both of whom missed the game through illness.

It only took a few minutes, however, to see Ingolstadt would play exactly the same way they've been playing all season, and Dortmund struggled mightily.

Just look at the passing map of BVB's first half below, courtesy of FourFourTwo's StatsZone app.

The hosts only got rolling once Tuchel finally decided to make changes in the second half. Moritz Leitner and Gonzalo Castro replaced Julian Weigl and Shinji Kagawa, both of whom playing worse than they have all season, and Dortmund immediately looked better.

Still, the Black and Yellows didn't create anything that would be considered more than a half-chance until their third substitute, Christian Pulisic, entered the game. The 17-year-old made his senior debut "and became the youngest player to do so this season" in the Bundesliga, per the club's website.

Perhaps it was because he's a lightweight (U.S. Soccer listing him as 140 pounds) and the pitch was soaked, but the U.S. youth international looked quicker than anyone else on the field, and that seemed to ignite something in his team-mates. 

As one can see in the video below, he hardly put a foot wrong, although the end product wasn't there just yet. One can also see Leitner combined well with him. It was the former Germany under-21 international's first Bundesliga game for Dortmund in 994 days, per stat provider Opta on Twitter.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang may have scored both goals for his side, but one thing is for certain: The substitutes changed the game. All three had a hand in the second goal that put the game to bed.

Leitner passed to Castro, whose cutting pass found Aubameyang alone in front of goal. Pulisic made the run to tie up two opponents that opened up the move.

Ingolstadt, however, will have a different view. They clearly felt after the game they were robbed of a result by refereeing decisions. Captain Marvin Matip said, per BVB's website: "Dortmund were the better side. But we showed every ounce of our fighting spirit out there. We were cheated out of the reward we deserved from the game."

Two of the three big calls in the match went against the promoted side. They could conceivably have played against 10 men for an hour and have had a penalty after Mats Hummels pulled down striker Dario Lezcano in the box as the last man, although opinions on the incident are split.

Hummels then scored one of the more bizarre own goals of all time in the second half with a lob that would've made any striker jealous, only to get saved by referee Guido Winkmann's whistle. He was fouled ever so slightly by Lezcano.

PATRIK STOLLARZ/Getty Images

To make matters worse, Dortmund's skipper, who arguably should've been sitting in the stands freshly showered by that point, initiated his team's opening goal with a dribble and a pass to Lukasz Piszczek. The Pole whipped in a fantastic cross that Aubameyang converted with a brilliant header, but he was offside. Not by a lot, but by enough one would expect the linesman to see it.

Had the calls gone the other way, Dortmund would've likely dropped points at home for only the second time all season, with the other instance being a 2-2 draw against the Bundesliga's other promoted side, SV Darmstadt.

Going forward, Saturday's game might be of little significance for the Black and Yellows, who now hold a 10-point advantage over their next Bundesliga opponents, Hertha BSC, in third place, but they must know they've used up all their luck for a while.

Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.