BVB wants to show a different face against FC Bayern – Schlotterbeck is ready

Undefeated at home in the Bundesliga

After the embarrassing Champions League exit, Niko Kovac has noticeably gained new confidence for the classic against FC Bayern. “The atmosphere in training is very good, the sun is shining and it gives everyone happiness hormones,” said the Borussia Dortmund coach before the Bundesliga top game on Saturday (6:30 p.m./Sky). “What was is over,” he emphasized two days after the debacle in Bergamo, “and I have to honestly say: we’re looking forward to it!” Defense boss Nico Schlotterbeck is ready for the starting eleven again.

Kovac knows that his team will have to show “a completely different face than in Bergamo” against Bayern in front of 81,365 spectators in the sold-out Signal Iduna Park. In the playoff second leg in Italy, BVB won 2-0 in the first leg and were eliminated 1-4. The top game against the league leaders opens up two opportunities for pursuers Dortmund: “We can make things exciting again with a win,” said Kovac with a view to the title race. “And with a win we could regain the reputation we lost in the last game.”

With a three pointer, the Black and Yellows would reduce their gap to Bayern to five points. A defeat, however, would mean an eleven-point lead for Munich. That would probably be an early championship decision ten game days before the end of the season. But Kovac didn’t want to think about that. “Title here, title there? No, I see this game in isolation – we want to show a reaction to last Wednesday’s game and we want three points!”

BVB’s last home defeat in the Bundesliga was in March 2025

Dortmund is still undefeated in Bundesliga home games this season and has only suffered one defeat: on matchday 7 at Bayern. The last defeat so far in the German upper house of football in Signal-Iduna-Park dates from March 8, 2025 (0-1 against Augsburg). “I hope that we can continue this series,” said Kovac, who also knows: “Bayern Munich is a top team that will demand everything from us. We have to play a 100 percent good game, from the first to the last second – because Bayern are the ultimate in Europe.” With a squad value of 960 million euros, only seven clubs in the world are valued higher than Munich, and the team is also almost twice as valuable as BVB’s at 484 million euros.

Borussia will have to do without their top assist provider: Julian Ryerson, who has already prepared eleven Bundesliga goals this season, is suspended. Central defender Schlotterbeck will probably return to the starting line-up. The 26-year-old recently missed two Bundesliga and two Champions League games due to a yellow card suspension and muscular problems. “Schlotti is ready to play from the start,” informed Kovac.

When BVB lost in Bergamo on Wednesday, Schlotterbeck was still on the bench to protect himself. Against Bayern he could now move to the left-wing position in the three-man chain where Ramy Bensebaini did not make a happy impression in the premier class and was involved in three goals conceded.