Pre-Match Report
BVB in Gladbach: Nuri Sahin wants "to carry the momentum with us"
"My assistant coaches are delighted. They asked me: What's the stadium like, what's the atmosphere like?" explains Sahin. "There's always something going on in Gladbach. And a 18:30 kick-off is always good." BVB are travelling to the Lower Rhine on the back of three games unbeaten: victories against Freiburg and in Zagreb were followed by a draw against Bayern Munich last weekend. "How much that point is worth will be decided in the away game in Gladbach," said sporting director Lars Ricken in the aftermath of the Bayern clash. Sahin added: "It's a very important game for us, given our weakness on the road in the Bundesliga. We have to snap our inconsistency at some point. In Zagreb, we at least managed to do so in another competition. Now we have to take this momentum with us and get three points in Gladbach."
Brandt and Adeyemi in training
Waldemar Anton had to be substituted off against Bayern due to injury and will miss both the clash in Gladbach and the Champions League match against Barcelona next week. "And then we'll see," said Sahin, who will also be without Filippo Mane. Karim Adeyemi has taken part in some team training sessions, while Julian Brandt has also returned to the squad. "Unfortunately, two of the lads - Donny Malen and Julian Ryerson - have been a bit ill. But we assume that they'll be fine for the weekend," says the BVB head coach. Although he would have liked to be playing in the DFB-Pokal during the week, the loss in this competition "also had the side effect that we were able to train, rest and prepare differently for the game." In this full week of training, the focus was on creating goal-scoring opportunities, ‘because that's the decisive factor in whether we win a game or not. I've already witnessed huge progress against Freiburg and Zagreb and I'm assuming that we'll continue to show what we've worked on in recent weeks."
Sabitzer decided most recent clash
BVB will be looking to win away from home for the first time this Bundesliga season in Mönchengladbach. The Black & Yellows have won 15 of the last 18 clashes with the other Borussia, including the three most recent meetings. The last time they visited Borussia-Park in April of this year, BVB claimed a 2-1 victory thanks to two goals from Marcel Sabitzer.
Gladbach's run of five games without defeat ended last weekend with a 3-1 loss in Freiburg. With 17 points, the team is in tenth place in the table, just three points behind BVB in fifth place. Twelve of these points have come at home: after early defeats against Leverkusen and Stuttgart, Gerardo Seoane's team have recently celebrated four home wins in a row. "They have a lot of control in their play and have a very tidy passing game," said Sahin.
If the trend continues, fans can look forward to another high-scoring game: 28 goals have been scored in the past five duels between the two teams, none of the last 54 encounters have ended 0-0, and there has always been a winner in the past 22 meetings. Borussia Dortmund will be hoping to be in that position come Saturday night.
Christina Reinke