Despite the recent bankruptcy in the Bundesliga against VfB Stuttgart, Borussia Dortmund wants to provide a big evening in the Champions League and win an away win at Sporting Lisbon. At least this was underlined by BVB sports director Sebastian Kehl on Monday afternoon before departure towards Portugal.
“We will try everything to stand compact and to be able to switch again and again,” Kehl told a media round on Monday and added: “There will be rooms, and in the end we absolutely need a sense of achievement.”
Despite the 1-2 bankruptcy against VfB Stuttgart last Saturday, the Dortmund sports director was also confident that the new head coach Niko Kovac would now bring new stability and ultimately success into the team.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t play a good result at the weekend. That outshines a lot. Nevertheless, I see Niko as very positive. He is very confident about dealing with the team, is clear and focused. That is what we need now.”
In the meantime, Kehl left no doubt about the sporting objective for the two playoff duel with the Portuguese league leader Sporting Lisbon: “We absolutely want to go to the round of 16 and we are preparing for that.”
Kehl expects “clear focus” at BVB
The BVB is on Tuesday (from 9:00 p.m.) with “a lot of anticipation, optimism, but also with the clear focus of getting a good result”.
The second leg will take place in the following week on Wednesday (from 6:45 p.m./DAZN). “We know that there are two games. We know that we have the opportunity to move a lot with a home game and the backing of our fans,” said Kehl: “Above all, we need good performance and a good starting position.”
The ex-international, meanwhile, describes the Portuguese capital club as a “very exciting team”, with “some outstanding players”.