Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was jeered on his return to the Borussia Dortmund team as Jeremy Toljan rescued a point for Peter Stoger's men in a 2-2 Bundesliga draw with Freiburg.
Nils Petersen's double - including a superb 40-yard second - looked to have secured an away win for Freiburg at Signal Iduna Park as Arsenal target Aubameyang toiled.
Yet Toljan netted in the third minute of stoppage time to at least ensure Dortmund did not suffer a costly defeat.
Aubameyang had not featured since before the league's mid-season break, but the forward was recalled after impressing coach Stoger with his application in training.
That was not enough to appease some home supporters, however, as Aubameyang emerged as the villain of the piece and remained on the periphery of the game - sporting director Michael Zorc having earlier confirmed that a transfer could happen if Arsenal up their bid.
A sour atmosphere was not improved when Dortmund headed into half-time all square after Petersen cancelled out Shinji Kagawa's opener.
The home side never recovered their momentum and a brilliant Petersen effort from distance appeared set to prove the winner before Toljan's dramatic late leveller.
This result leaves Dortmund fifth - still outside the Champions League places - and they must now contemplate the very real possibility of a future without top scorer Aubameyang, as Wednesday's transfer deadline draws near.
"No player is bigger than the club," read a banner held aloft before kick-off by a section of Dortmund fans who then heckled Aubameyang's early touches, but their mood was momentarily lifted by a ninth-minute goal.
The Freiburg defence failed to cut out a pass into the area and they were left scrambling as Lukasz Piszczek's blocked low strike popped up kindly for Kagawa to acrobatically slam a volley into the bottom-left corner.
Dortmund kept the pressure on and Rafal Gikiewicz turned away Jadon Sancho's curler, but the visitors soon levelled against the run of play.
Janik Haberer reached a pass on the right flank just in time to keep the ball in play and centre for Petersen to finish high past Roman Burki from close range at the near post.
Aubameyang belatedly got involved and drew light applause as he rose to meet Gonzalo Castro's cross, directing a header just over.
But Dortmund almost went into the break a goal down when Burki fumbled Lukas Kubler's volley and had to be alert to dive back and retrieve the spinning ball from the goal line.
The hosts lacked rhythm after the restart and Kagawa found only the side netting when he looked to beat Gikiewicz at his near right-hand post.
Then, with just over 20 minutes remaining, Petersen struck again, stealing possession from Nuri Sahin in the midfield before executing a stunning lob that caught Burki off guard and picked out the top-left corner.
Dortmund found an urgency in the final stages that had previously been lacking, but it took them until the final seconds of stoppage time to restore parity.
The last of a series of long balls launched into the Freiburg area dropped for Toljan and he hammered a finish hard and low past Gikiewicz to ease some of the pressure on his misfiring team-mates.
Key Opta stats:
- Dortmund remain unbeaten in the Bundesliga under Peter Stoger (2 wins, 3 draws). Former manager Peter Bosz had not won any of his last eight BL games with the club (3 draws, 5 losses).
- Dortmund have conceded 16 goals at home this season (in 10 games). Only last-place Cologne have conceded more goals at home (17).
- Jeremy Toljan scored his 1st Bundesliga goal for Dortmund, in his 11th league game for the club.
