Defeat against Stuttgart
After debut bankruptcy: BVB coach Kovač says
08.02.2025 – 7:13 p.m.Reading time: 1 min.
Borussia Dortmund’s new trainer talks about his debut on the sidelines of the BVB – and becomes clear at one point.
After his failed debut as the new head coach of Borussia Dortmund, Niko Kovač largely protected the players. The 53-year-old said at the broadcaster Sky after the 1-2 backdrop against VfB Stuttgart: “The result is the only thing that was not good, the rest was completely fine.”
His players “really gave everything”, said Kovač, who had taken over the office of transition coach Mike Tullberg and was responsible for the first time against the German football runner. Before Tullberg, Nuri Şahin had trained BVB, the collaboration ended after around half a year.
You shouldn’t have left the pitch as a loser, said Kovač after the defeat. “The team really implemented a lot.” In the opposing penalty area, however, his players would not always have made the right decisions. “We got ourselves somewhere.”
In front of 81,365 spectators in the sold-out Dortmund stadium, the ex-Stuttgart Waldemar Anton (50th minute) had scored the goals of the guests with an own goal and Jeff Chabot (62nd). Julian Brandt (81st) was only the connecting goal for Dortmund (you can read more about this here).
“I don’t want to look for an alibi here now, but the Waldi felt felt like 20 seconds,” said Kovač to the own goal. “Instead of whistling it, you let it run.”