Freiburg, Mainz, Stuttgart, Schalke and now Hamburger SV. Borussia Dortmund are willing to edge further away from the drop-zone with another win at Hamburger SV on Saturday (3.30 pm) even though they are aware of the difficulty of this task and know what it's like to suffer consecutive setbacks.

It should come as a surprise that Borussia Dortmund have lost more often in Hamburg than in Munich under Jürgen Klopp, despite having played one more time in Hamburg. "We can "achieve something great" in Hamburg and we have dropped too many points in total against HSV", said the coach with reference to the defeat in the home leg as well as last year's debacle at Hamburger SV: "We have many feathers in our cap."

The coach further relies on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who is feared by every defensive line, and hopes that his equally brilliant teammate Marco Reus will also help to get through HSV's defense that is much more stable than last year, but still leaves itself too open to counterattacks.

If Nuri Sahin cannot play, Sebastian Kehl might add some robustness and help the team with his heading skills, which will be very important in Hamburg. Before the away leg, he said: "We made the HSV players happy with the 0-1 defeat in the first leg and this allowed them to breathe in some fresh air. We must not let this happen again on this Saturday."

“ With HSV players covering great distances, Jürgen Klopp is expecting a very intense game and thinks his team is on the right path: "When you are strong enough to play this kind of football, you cannot get nervous."
Boris Rupert