“See every game as a final”
© Imago
After the victory in the Borussen duel, there was a surprise for BVB professionals. Trainer Niko Kovac granted them a little more recovery than planned for the final sprint in the narrow race for the European Cup places. “I gathered the team in the cabin after the game and congratulated her, said the Croatian native and gave the players two days off – actually it should be just one.
BVB with supposedly simple remaining program
With the 3: 2 in front of a home backdrop against Borussia Mönchengladbach, BVB worked in seventh place in the table. Two points are missing in the 6th place, which would lead to Conference League, three in fifth place, which entitles you to participate in the Europa League. They are four points away from the Champions League, in whose final the Dortmund last season had still been in the Bundesliga.
When comparing the remaining games, the supposedly simplest remaining program of the upper half of the table is waiting for the Dortmund and the Bremeners – the opponents currently have an average rank of 11.75. For comparison: on RB Leipzig and Mainz 05 that are in front of BVB, opponents are waiting with an average rank of 5.75.
“We want to see every game as a final,” emphasized sports director Sebastian Kehl. The BVB seems to have found its shape on time for the decisive phase. “The team is again developing a quality to win games and being there in the important phases.” From the past four Bundesliga games, you scored ten points and recently defeated the form strong with the form of FC Barcelona 3-1.
BVB coach Kovac: “It is not yet over”
The development of the team is a positive, Kovac also emphasized. “We are stable, we have a consistency – we are now clinging the 4: 0 in Barcelona. But we had the consistency against Munich, against Barcelona and here today against a really strong opponent.” The Westphalia in the Bundesliga against RB Leipzig – the current fourth place in the table. What the BVB (45 points) in the race for fourth place and thus a ticket for the premier class could play in the cards is the fact that Eintracht Frankfurt (52), RB Leipzig (49), SC Freiburg (48), Mainz 05 (47) and Werder (45) will take each other. Only the Dortmund no longer play against one of these competitors who will meet several times.
The next task after the short breather is waiting on Saturday (3:30 p.m./Sky) at TSG Hoffenheim. “We took a good development, but it is not over yet,” said Kovac. Then come the home games against VfL Wolfsburg and at the end of the season against Holstein Kiel – in between the almost emaciated master Bayer Leverkusen is waiting in between.
Kovac, who had taken over the Borussia in early February, emphasized: “We don’t want to see what is in two or three weeks, but in a week against Hoffenheim. We have to win this game and then see what is going on in the next.” The sports director also shares the opinion. “We don’t look that far, we know that we are now challenged in every single game,” said Kehl. In the current form, BVB can definitely dream of bringing up to a positive end to European squares.
“We have a run that we want to use. Let’s see where we are in May,” said Daniel Svensson. The Swede hit head for the meantime 3: 1 against the Gladbacher and celebrated his premiere goal with a somersault in front of the south grandstand. After the final whistle, the BVB professionals celebrated their fans together in the pouring rain. Let’s see if that will be the case on May 17th at 5:30 p.m.