Julian Ryerson buries his face behind his jersey
Image: Keystone
"We're not a top team, we have to admit that": Captain Emre Can speaks plainly
Image: Keystone
"We're going round in circles": Chief defender Nico Schlotterbeck (left) complains
Image: Keystone
"No aggression, no intensity, no ball circulation": Coach Niko Kovac is harsh on his players
Image: Keystone
Sky pundit Didi Hamann sees radical change as the only way out of Dortmund's misery
Image: Keystone
Julian Ryerson buries his face behind his jersey
Image: Keystone
"We're not a top team, we have to admit that": Captain Emre Can speaks plainly
Image: Keystone
"We're going round in circles": Chief defender Nico Schlotterbeck (left) complains
Image: Keystone
"No aggression, no intensity, no ball circulation": Coach Niko Kovac is harsh on his players
Image: Keystone
Sky pundit Didi Hamann sees radical change as the only way out of Dortmund's misery
Image: Keystone
Dortmund have already crashed in the Bundesliga. On Wednesday, hopes of a conciliatory Champions League campaign could also be dashed. It would be the logical consequence of a failed season.
12.03.2025, 04:31
12.03.2025, 07:06
SDA
Borussia Dortmund will face Lille early on Wednesday evening(live from 6.45pm on blue sport) in the second leg of the round of 16 tie and, after a 1:1 draw a week ago, will need an away win to avoid elimination. Their immediate preparations were, once again, marred by a misstep in the Bundesliga. Against Augsburg, wearing bright yellow retro jerseys from the golden mid-nineties under coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, they lost 1-0 in front of their home crowd. "The next embarrassment, this time in neon yellow" was the headline in the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".
It has been just under two years since Dortmund went into the final matchday as Bundesliga leaders and let the league title slip from their grasp. Less than a year has passed since the club played in the Champions League final for its second triumph since 1997. The reality now looks like this: Borussia Dortmund is facing a season without European Cup earnings. With ten wins and ten defeats from 25 games, the club only occupies 10th place in the Bundesliga. In the Cup, it was eliminated in the 2nd round. The team is completely unsettled. Even goalkeeper Gregor Kobel, Dortmund's rock at the back, is now affected.
Until a week ago, the Champions League was a positive contrast. With five wins from the eight games in the league phase, they did not quite make it into the top eight and thus directly into the round of 16. However, Dortmund won through against Sporting Lisbon in the round of 16.
Because BVB once again let a lead slip in the first leg of the round of 16 at home against Lille this season, they need an away win on Wednesday. The question is whether their mental state will allow them to do so.
Scathing criticism
After the 1-0 home defeat against Augsburg on Saturday, the team was once again subjected to a lot of negative criticism - and not just from the fans, who booed the players mercilessly and banished them to the dressing room as they stood in front of the south curve after the game with empty stares and bowed heads. A corner that Pascal Gross sent straight into the stands from the corner was emblematic of the current mood.
Dortmund's words almost sounded like resignation. "We're not getting it right on the pitch. We're not a top team, we have to admit that. If we carry on like this, it will be a very, very bad season for us," said captain Emre Can, for example. Defender Nico Schlotterbeck, who has been one of the few bright spots in recent weeks, said: "Today was nothing and I'm really sorry."
Schlotterbeck said that they were far from being a top team. "We're going round in circles. We have too many games where we don't push ourselves to the limit. That's simply not good enough. If we have as many bad games as we do at the moment, then we're quite right to be there." Things are repeating themselves every two or three weeks, according to the defensive boss. "We have no consistency in the team. A lack of consistency always means a lack of quality."
For coach Niko Kovac, the defeat was logical: "The bottom line is that we got what we showed: namely nothing." His team "played badly", "didn't do what we set out to do at all", said Kovac. They "didn't create any chances, didn't radiate any goal threat". In short: "No aggression, no intensity, no ball circulation."
Not good enough
The experts were also harsh on BVB. The fact that the new coach has not been able to stabilize the team so far is also due to the players, said former international Dietmar Hamann on Sky: "All in all, you simply have to say that they have too few players you can rely on. That's poison for the team, of course."
Hamann believes the club should draw personnel consequences from the crisis. In view of the disastrous Bundesliga season, he advises BVB to make a radical change in the summer. "They have many players who have been with them for a long time. It doesn't matter whether it's quality, attitude, mentality or bad luck with injuries - at some point it won't matter any more. Then you just have to make a cut and say: So, they're not good enough - for whatever reason."
Ahead of the visit to Lille, the question of how the team will turn the corner in this negative, emotionally charged climate is more important than ever. BVB managing director Lars Ricken refrained from taking any pressure off the players' shoulders. On the contrary, he called them to account: "The whole team is called upon to finally show fighting spirit and an irrepressible will to win on Wednesday in Lille and then against Leipzig, Mainz and Freiburg, and not just for one half like in the first leg against Lille, but until the referee blows the final whistle."
