Borussia Dortmund made it to the quarter-finals at the club World Cup. But shouldn’t be over here. BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke has now expressed a final sprint in the financial tournament in an exclusive interview with RTL/NTV and Sport.de and also compared the competition with the Champions League.
When Borussia Dortmund on Saturday evening (10:00 p.m. in sport.de-Live-ticker) competes against Real Madrid in the Metlife Stadium in New Jersey, then it is about nothing less than moving into the semi-finals of the club World Cup. This undertaking would then be able to wait either the FC Bayern or Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals. The way into the final is paved with top opponents, BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke also knows this difficulty, as he did in an exclusive interview with RTL/NTV and sport.de emphasized.
“Of course, the air is now also thin. Paris is in a captivating form, the Bavarians do it very well here and Real Madrid is always hungry for title,” said Watzke, adding the game against the Spanish top club: “Of course, Real Madrid is the favorite. That is also logical. But we are not unless!”
Watzke would like to use exactly that chance with his black and yellow. This not only has monetary reasons, because the winner receives 40 million euros, but also more: “If you win this tournament, this is for eternity. This is the first club world championship. There will still be many follows, but that is the first,” recalled Watzke. “Today everyone knows who deals a bit with football who was the first world champion at the first regular World Cup in 1930.”
Regardless of the memory of Uruguay and the dream of triumph at the big tournament in the USA, the main focus of BVB remains on the premier class.
Watzke: BVB has recently done “enormous”
“The Champions League is the competition. It is still above everything,” said Watzke, not without adding: “But the club World Cup will be increasing every four years.”
BVB’s game against Real and also Bayern’s duel against PSG (Saturday, 6:00 p.m. in sport.de-Live ticker) are “the semi-final games of the Champions League from 2024-only in reverse order. Of course that is good for us. The continuity,” he also recalled.
Overall, the club boss sees its Dortmund equipped. “We have now lost no game in the Bundesliga and club World Cup in twelve games, won ten times and played twice. The team has already done enormous things,” the 66-year-old praised the Niko Kovac team.
Further statements by Hans-Joachim Watzke:
… About Real Madrid and President Pérez:
I know Florentino Pérez well. I know how much he was going to be the first club world champion. Real Madrid, of course, will add this to the marketing in the next ten years. So it really gets down to business!
… about the mood at the club World Cup on site:
We have the situation that people go out outside of Europe like a suppository when it comes to this. Word has not yet got around completely in Europe. But the mood in South America, the mood, now that Al Hilal has progressed, is of course there in the entire Arab world. There is really action and that’s great.
… about the mood in Germany to the club World Cup:
In Germany we have the “Qatar syndrome” again, where the mood at the games was also fantastic and everything in Germany is always a bit more critical. But the club World Cup will not be stopped. That will be every four years – but really only every four years.
… For the mode/ discharge of the club World Cup every fourth year:
I would raise my voice for nothing else, because otherwise we will get too much stress. Every four years is good.
… for criticism from Germany at the club World Cup:
We should just look outside the box and maybe smile a bit more often. That always helps. That was a bit lost to us. We should be a little more respectful to the other continents and other national associations. If people around the world look forward to a tournament, then we should consider whether we should not agree.
… for the burden and the schedule at the limit:
Under no circumstances any more tournaments. There must be no more!
… for the heat on site:
Of course, it is not nice to play at a good 30 degrees or maybe 40 degrees at lunchtime. But people want to see that worldwide and you have to make one or two compromise.