From the point of view of Borussia Dortmund, the start of the new calendar year could not have gone better. All four Bundesliga games have been won since the restart in January, six points made up for FC Bayern. BVB managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke feels confirmed in his assessment and is once again the chief reminder for the black and yellow.
In the weeks leading up to the World Cup break, Borussia Dortmund still had quite a bit of trouble in the top German football league, even falling back to sixth place in the table after a tough 4-2 defeat at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
In the meantime, BVB has recovered with four wins in a row and is in the middle of the championship race.
“It is important for me that the people involved can correctly assess and evaluate the situation. And the development of a team also includes setbacks,” explained BVB managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke in an interview with “Ruhr Nachrichten” why he remained quite relaxed in late autumn 2022 when the results in the Bundesliga failed to materialize.
After the fourth league win in 2023, the Dortmund club boss also warned that he had planned one or the other dent in the current season: “Despite all the quality that we have in our squad: there will be setbacks despite the great series at the moment I’m sure I’ll give it again.”
According to Watzke, something has changed at Adeyemi
The BVB stars and national players Julian Brandt and Karim Adeyemi have been particularly impressive in the first few weeks since the Bundesliga restart. Aki Watzke is happy for both of them, as the 63-year-old explained.
“He has worked for the success and the consistently high level,” said the Marsberger about Brandt, who recently even appeared as a dream goalscorer against SC Freiburg.
Watzke found even stronger words about team-mate Adeyemi, who scored his first two Bundesliga goals for BVB in the new calendar year: “You could already see that something was changing in the training camp in Marbella. then you will be rewarded in the end.”