Cup exit in the round of 16 and four injuries – Borussia Dortmund comes back from Stuttgart extremely dejected. Is the team prepared for the next big game?
Emre Can is sometimes known as a man of clear words. And so the soon-to-be 30-year-old didn’t want to gloss over anything after his Dortmund Borussia’s recent defeat on Wednesday evening in Stuttgart (0-2): “We are Dortmund, a big team – that’s how we have to act, we’re not doing that at the moment,” Can said after the trophy and added: “There has to be more! We have to get together, it can’t go on like this.”
Dortmund’s chances are gone
BVB is only on target in the Champions League, where the round of 16 ticket was booked early in a very demanding group with Paris St. Germain, Newcastle United and AC Milan. The chance of winning the title in the cup is gone, but in the Bundesliga they are only ten points behind Bayer Leverkusen.
“Honestly, it has to improve a lot,” said Can, but excluded coach Edin Terzic from his critical analysis. “We always talk about tactics or the formation, but every player should take a look at their own nose and analyze their performance, me first. It’s too little, we invest too little, press too little, aren’t brave enough with the ball. ” In terms of football, the performance at VfB was “a catastrophe”, “it was missing at the front and back,” complained Can.
BVB coach Terzic: “Shitty evening”
Edin Terzic spoke completely satisfied of a “shitty evening”, and the coach suffered a bitter cup defeat Borussia Dortmund also a lot of bad luck with injuries.
Youssoufa Moukoko, Marius Wolf, Marcel Sabitzer and Julian Ryerson all had to leave the field with injuries. Terzic called his team’s performance “very disappointing. We couldn’t even begin to show what we had imagined. That just wasn’t good enough.”
Helplessness everywhere at BVB
The Westphalians were perplexed – including the goalkeeper: “It hurts incredibly that we missed another huge opportunity this year,” said Gregor Kobel after the deserved defeat at VfB Stuttgart – BVB had already lost at the beginning of November League looked really bad at VfB (1:2).
But things continue to progress in quick succession for Dortmund – the next league game is already on the agenda on Saturday. If they then lose against Leipzig, the Black and Yellows are already four points behind the table positions that entitle them to take part in the premier class.
Now in the league against Leipzig
“The season is long. You notice that again and again. The game on Saturday doesn’t decide the whole season,” said keeper Kobel. But he also added: “We have to be extremely careful that we don’t lose touch. That starts with the next game.” The mood was “already shitty” after another very weak performance in Stuttgart, said the 26-year-old.
“We have shown often enough that we can react,” said sports director Sebastian Kehl, referring to the Leipzig game. But you have to “perform better in order to pass”.
Use of the injured is questionable
Terzic was unable to say who from the quartet of stricken players might be available on Saturday against Leipzig (from 6.30 p.m. in the radio report and in the live ticker on the Sportschau).
“We hope it’s not too bad, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for the boys,” he said. Moukoko felt a sting in the back of his thigh, Wolf twisted his ankle and injured his ankle, while Sabitzer suffered a blow to his calf. Ryerson appeared to have hurt his left knee, but Terzic said: “It’s far too early for a diagnosis.”
