In Lisbon on Tuesday, Borussia Dortmund would like to get back on the road to success under new coach Niko Kovac. The first leg of the Champions League play-offs offers BVB the chance to make amends.
A change of scenery can do you good, especially in the gray German winter, and even more so when you’re in the middle of the most difficult sporting situation in ten years. The business trip to Lisbon, where the mercury is hovering at 16 degrees, could therefore come at just the right time for Borussia Dortmund to shake off the blues of the bitter 2-1 home defeat to VfB Stuttgart on the debut of new coach Niko Kovac.
On Tuesday, BVB will face Sporting Lisbon in the City of Light in the Champions League round of 16. In the Champions League, unlike in the Bundesliga, the competition is still reasonably pleasant from Dortmund’s point of view, even if the club would have gladly done without the two additional play-off games this week and next.
The game against the leaders of the Portuguese league therefore offers the chance to make amends immediately and to gain fresh self-confidence for the recently more difficult task of still getting into the Champions League spots in the Bundesliga.
BVB is traveling with “a lot of optimism”
The team is traveling with “a lot of optimism,” said sporting director Sebastian Kehl on Monday before the flight from Dortmund, formulating his hopes for the trip to the Tejo: “We need a good performance and a good starting position. In the end, we absolutely need a sense of achievement again.”
This also applies to Kovac, who is the first Dortmund head coach since Thomas Doll in 2007 not to win his BVB debut and is now hoping for his first victory in the second game of his tenure. “Niko is very calm, very confident in his dealings with the team and the current issues, clear and focused,” said Kehl, describing his perception of the 53-year-old, before he spoke at his first Champions League press conference as BVB coach that evening.
“We saw some promising elements against Stuttgart. We have shown in training and with video sequences how we would like to play. The only thing missing is the realization,” said Kovac in Lisbon, who was confident that this would work better against Sporting than against Stuttgart: ‘We will get it right. I am convinced that we will do well here as a team.’
Bensebaini out, Chukwuemeka in
The personnel situation ahead of the game in Lisbon remains largely unchanged for the new Borussia coach compared to the Stuttgart game. Only Ramy Bensebaini is out alongside long-term injury victim Felix Nmecha. In his place, winter signing Carney Chukwuemeka is included in the squad for the first time after missing out against Stuttgart with a knee injury sustained in the final training session. The Englishman is not expected to be in the starting lineup. “He’s an option, but not from the start, but from the bench,” said Kovac.
Bensebaini, who suffered a muscle strain against VfB, is likely to be replaced by Daniel Svensson, the second new signing of the winter transfer window. The Swede has made a good first impression and has received praise from Kovac: “He’s a very fine, very bright and focused lad,” said the BVB coach. “I was very pleased with him in training and also in the game against Stuttgart.”
Kehl wants to take the joy out of Györkeres
Dortmund’s opponents on Tuesday were also unable to win last weekend, drawing 1-1 in the top-of-the-table clash with FC Porto. But BVB should not be underestimated. “They have an exciting team with some outstanding players,” said Kehl, who was probably thinking primarily of center forward Viktor Gyökeres. The 26-year-old Swede has scored 34 goals in 34 competitive games (seven assists) this season, and has already scored six times in seven games in the Champions League alone.
“In the end, it takes a good central defense,” said Kehl, but with regard to the defensive work against the Sporting striker, he called on the entire team: ”The best way for us to stop him is to not let him get into goal-scoring areas. Of course, that won’t always work, but we have to stand close, defend compactly, maybe take a little of the joy out of him.”
A task that could fall to Emre Can in particular, who is likely to be partnered by Nico Schlotterbeck in defense. “You can only stop him if you work together,” said the BVB captain on Monday in Lisbon – and pointed out that Borussia also has a top striker in Serhou Guirassy in its own ranks. One thing is certain: the team that can make better use of its striker should have a good chance of winning.
