PRE-MATCH REPORT “It’s no walk in the park to play us“ Borussia Dortmund welcome Borussia Mönchengladbach at a sold-out Signal Iduna Park on Saturday afternoon(tomorrow). They will go into this match without Henrikh Mkhitaryan (suspension) and most likely also without Marko Reus (muscle problems). “We might not have a full-strength squad, but it still will not be a walk in the park to play us,“ promised Jürgen Klopp in the build-up to the match against the eight-placed visitors who are currently on a nine-game winless run. The BVB coach has been looking forward to this fixture for a while, maybe even longed for it. “Right after the 2-0 defeat in the first game I wanted to bill the second meeting as the game of the year,” said Klopp on Thursday afternoon. He explained: “At Borussia Park, we played one of the best away games under my helm – and we still picked up a deserved defeat in the end.” According to Klopp, his team had nothing to reply after the sending off of Mats Hummels and Gladbach’s goals from Max Kruse and Raffael. “Back then we did a lot of things right, but didn’t get anything for it,” remembered Klopp. They will be looking to do better at a sold-out Signal Iduna Park on Saturday. The game marks the first of a busy schedule of matches coming up. Within the space of 10 days, BVB will also face FC Zenit, Hannover 96 and Schalke 04. The Black n Yellows are on a three-game unbeaten run at home this year, and they haven’t conceded for 198 minutes. Their last two home matches against Frankfurt (4-0) and Nuremberg (3-0) were highly watchable and entertaining affairs. The last visiting player to score at Signal Iduna Park was future BVB striker Dong-Won Ji in the 2-2 draw with Augsburg. That was in January. Mönchengladbach, on the other hand, will go into the game in a poor run of form. Lucien Favre’s men haven’t won any of their last nine matches – their longest winless run in three years – and have consequently dropped to eighth in the Bundesliga table. But that’s what makes them so dangerous. “I expect a Gladbach side that will give their all to get out of their slump,” said Klopp, adding, “Since Lucien’s been there, they want to play football, they want to be dominant – and we have to take care of that.” Klopp urged his team that players like Juan Arrango or Max Kruse need to be marked and watched at all times. “Raffael is an exceptional player as well and the little Hermann is an arrow.” BVB will really need to be aware of them all in the “game of the year.” #BVBMalaysia #BorussiaDortmund #PrayForMH370
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:10:08 +0000
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