There is a 31 point gap between BVB and FC Bayern Munich in the current table. The gap was 19 points at the end of season 2013/14, it was 25 points in season 2012/2013. BVB Head Coach Jürgen Klopp still spreads optimism before the 92nd Bundesliga clash and the home match on Saturday (kick-off at 18:30 hrs).

Jürgen Klopp about…

…the scenario before the Bayern game: “we don’t think that we are at the same level as FC Bayern. But we have also never thought that we don’t have a chance. That is the same case this time. Even though we are tenth, even though the gap in points in the table is huge, even though a lot is different than it was in the past. It is a home game and that is something that we have generally always taken advantage of before. We don’t want to talk too much and instead we want to play a good game and we will take from this what we have deserved.”  

…update on the situation of who is available to Bayern: “If I am not wrong, Bayern will have Müller, Götze and Lewandowski available in attack. I have heard of worse attacking line-ups. Philipp Lahm has been training for four, five weeks now, he will be there, he will be on form - you have to presume that with a player of his quality. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Alonso, Rode, and whoever else who can play there. We have to be prepared to face the top quality. All those boys know how to play football, they are always ready to exploit every mistake and they are absolutely full of confidence. However a fact is: Ribery, Robben and Alaba are amongst the fastest players in the squad. When you lose tempo, you have to change some things around. We will think about how Bayern reacts to that.”

…the strategy for the game: “You should defend well and when you switch play you should work to get some possibilities and then take advantage of them. In the past few years we have been quite good at doing this again and again.”

 

…the 1:2 in the first half of the season: “we became too passive back then in the second half. Bayern upped the pressure and they punished us for being too passive. You can defend deeper sometimes like Gladbach did when they recently won 2:0, you can defend higher up the pitch against them, you can press higher up the pitch, there are various things you can do. But you can never become passive. Bayern will punish that straight away.”

…the 3:0 derby victory as an example: “we really went for it against Schalke, we were very consequent in everything we did. This was when we played against the ball and also when we had the ball. We were always ready to look for the next decisive action. However to compare the way FC Bayern play to the way FC Schalke 04 plays would be nonsense. They do not play the same way at all. The effort, being ready, being consequent in what you do will be just as important. In this regard the way we approach the game will be identical, but we have to adjust certain things specifically to the way Bayern play.”

…the situation in the table: “talking about it before it happens, what it means if…has never really been much to the point. The team is in quite good shape. And so we will invest everything into the match. We don’t have to hide from anything. There are no different sets of targets within the club. We are all fully aware that every single point we get will help us move forward one more step. But only if that happens. First of all we have to win the points, then we can start to evaluate the situation again.” (fu)