Borussia Dortmund embarrassed themselves in the Champions League at FC Barcelona. Last year's finalists have crashed badly and currently have no chance at the highest level.
10.04.2025, 11:41
10.04.2025, 12:07
SDA
After what was possibly Borussia Dortmund's last Champions League away game for some time, Niko Kovac received encouragement from his former assistant coach. The BVB coach listened dejectedly to what Hansi Flick, the FC Barcelona coach, had to say to him after the 4-0 debacle in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final. Presumably it was also about Dortmund's next seemingly overpowering opponent, FC Bayern.
Flick joined Munich six years ago as Kovac's assistant, took over responsibility for the team after Kovac's dismissal and led them to the treble. In this respect, there was a lot of symbolic power in the scene. Just as Flick has overtaken his former boss as coach, BVB has also fallen back from the league of the greats.
Now against Bayern
In view of Dortmund's sporting downfall this season, there is no basis for continuing to refer to the clash with Bayern as a Bundesliga classic. Kovac also knows that there is a threat of bad things to come at the Allianz Arena on Saturday. "Bayern Munich at this level is like FC Barcelona," said Kovac after the humiliation in Catalonia, which leaves the team with Swiss international goalkeeper Gregor Kobel practically no chance for the second leg next Tuesday.
"The 0:4 hurts," said sporting director Sebastian Kehl and made an announcement for the rest of the season. "The Bundesliga was our focus and has to be our focus. We have a very, very important game there at Bayern Munich. We have to get a really good result there now."
If only it were that simple. In their current form, Bayern are also likely to be a few sizes too big for Dortmund. "We'll defend much better and much more than we did on Wednesday. Because without defending, you will also have problems in Munich," Kovac continued.
Other direct rivals
Bayern and champions Leverkusen have long been playing in a different league in the Bundesliga. Their direct rivals are now Mainz and Freiburg. Kovac has recently had success against these opponents by changing his tactics so that they seem to suit the squad better.
The return to a back four in defense in Barcelona proved to be a mistake. Dortmund were hopelessly out of their depth against the attacking power of wonderkid Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha. Kovac blamed this on a collective defensive failure.
Quite unusually for his approach so far, the BVB coach was also relatively clear in his criticism. "Running into a counter-attack three times is too much," said Kovac, berating the general attitude. "If you let these great players play without countering, it becomes difficult."
According to Kovac, his team generally has "a lot of catching up to do". That applies to BVB as a whole, who are eighth in the Bundesliga and are facing the prospect of a season without the Champions League stage for the first time in ten years. The next serious setback in Wednesday's form threatens as early as the weekend.
