Edin Terzic: "We want to establish a lead at home"

After qualification for the semi-finals, a picture showing the BVB players celebrating in the dressing room did the rounds in the media. "It was a great night for us all. It was extraordinary and historic," recalled captain Emre Can. It is not supposed to be the final great picture of the season from a Black & Yellow perspective. The Black & Yellows want to be in a celebratory mood once again after the return leg in Paris next Tuesday and to that end the team is aiming to lay the foundations in the first meeting with Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday evening. "We want to create two close games. Tomorrow we have the opportunity to get a good result with home advantage," said BVB coach Edin Terzic. The objective is to "establish a small advantage for ourselves that will improve our situation in Paris. We need to perform for 180 minutes at the highest level in order to achieve our big dream of reaching the final. First in Dortmund and then in Paris next week."

Ramy Bensebaini and Julien Duranville, who has sustained a muscle injury, will be the only definite absentees in the first leg. Ian Maatsen and Emre Can will return to the squad after serving their suspensions in the Bundesliga. "I'm rested and 100% fit, that can be an advantage for tomorrow," said the captain. Marcel Sabitzer, who was ill last week (Terzic: "We need Marcel in the same form as before the illness") took part in team training again on Monday. The recently injured Donyell Malen and Sébastien Haller have already partially returned to training with their team-mates. Whether they make it into the squad will only be determined after the final training session. As it stands on Tuesday, "we're expecting that the lads will be available to us," explained Terzic.

PSG have defended their Ligue 1 title 

Paris Saint-Germain will come to SIGNAL IDUNA PARK as the old and new French champions, having successfully defended their Ligue 1 title last weekend. The Black & Yellows and the Blue & Reds have already gone head-to-head on two occasions this season: BVB lost 2-0 away from home in the first match of the Champions League group stages but then secured top spot in the group courtesy of a 1-1 draw at home in the final round of group games. "We witnessed a very different game in Dortmund compared to the reverse fixture in Paris, when we weren't satisfied at all. We didn't have many chances to score. It was a completely different story in the second game," recalled Terzic, adding: "It was an open game in which we were even a tad closer to victory in the end. You could tell that we had learned the right lessons from the first game."

The BVB coach believes that PSG are currently "in their peak form of the season. They have achieved very many good results and have only suffered one defeat in 2024. We need to top our previous performance in Dortmund." PSG are highly flexible and quick and can repeatedly adapt their formation in the course of a game. "For us, it's a case of having our principles and list of priorities: in which areas do we want to win the ball, when do we move out of our positions, where do we support each other." With self-belief in our own performance and strengths, "we will develop a plan that aims to hurt them. If we press them high and inject tempo into our play, we'll also manage to create goalscoring chances against Paris. That's the clear mission. They will be two close games. The good thing about close games is: you can win them." 

The aim will be to pick up the first win of the season against PSG at the third attempt. To this end, the coach is counting on aggressiveness, intensity and resilience – and is hoping for that little bit of luck "that you need against a team like PSG on days like this". And he is counting on the Black & Yellow fans at the stadium. "If we all do this together, not just us on the pitch and on the bench, but everyone in the stadium, we have a huge opportunity and it's one we should take."
Christina Reinke

BVB TV by 1&1: The press conference prior to the game against PSG