Agency Report –
Dortmund, Germany – Borussia Dortmund need a quick turnaround after their latest setback when they travel to Lisbon for Tuesday’s Champions League play-off date at Sporting.
Dortmund are coming off a 2-1 home defeat in the Bundesliga against VfB Stuttgart in what was the debut match of their new coach Niko Kovac.
The latest defeat complicates their bid for a top four finish as they are now six points shy of the zone guaranteeing Champions League football again next season.
“I know we have a lot of work to do,” said Kovac, who took over from Mike Tullberg who had acted as caretaker after Nuri Sahin had to go after losing the first four games of the year.
Tullberg managed a draw and two victories but the team was not able to follow up on Saturday.
But Kovac, players and officials insisted that not everything was bad and the players fought until the end.
“The boys really gave everything, 100% right up to the last minute. The result was the only thing I didn’t like. The rest was completely fine,” Kovac told Sky TV.
“We shouldn’t have come away on the losing side. The team did a lot of things well, both on and off the ball. But we didn’t always make the right decisions in the opposition penalty area and stopped ourselves reaping the rewards.”
Sporting director Sebastian Kehl said that “we performed well in many phases” but also “lacked a bit of luck, clarity and determination.”
Stuttgart took the lead from an own goal by their former defender Waldemar Anton who named the incident “very bitter.”
“Of course we all wanted to win but there were many good approaches.”
“We had opportunities to come back. That has to be our takeaway. There were a lot of good things. But ultimately, you have to score more than one goal.”
Looking ahead, he said: “We have to bring the same intensity and our game to the pitch and look after ourselves. Everything else will take care of itself.”
