6 degrees when they departed the airport in Düsseldorf, and a nice warm 21 degrees in the evening when they landed in the Persian Gulf: the Borussia Dortmund pros will have the perfect weather conditions for their winter training camp so that they can really concentrate on their preparations for a (hopefully) successful second half of the season.

Peter Flore reports form Dubai

Airbus A380-800 with flight number EK056 was delayed quite bit before the flight left on Thursday afternoon at 15:28hrs from Düsseldorf. They landed in Dubai International Airport after roughly six hours flight at midnight local time. 24 Borussia Dortmund players were on board, amongst them U19 players Felix Passlack and Christian Pulisic, who have been training with the first team on a regular basis. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was missing for a very good reason, as he was in the Nigerian city Abuja for the African player of the year award ceremony. He will join the team as planned on Friday.

After a short transfer from the airport to the hotel direct on the picturesque Dubai Creek, the players and the coaching staff can get acquainted with their new ‘working environment’ for the next eight days – the first training session is planned for Friday afternoon in Dubai.

Thomas Tuchel and his coaching staff want to have up to two training sessions per day in the very modern NAS Sports Complex until the 16.January to form a basis for a successful second half of the Bundesliga season and also make sure they compete in the national and international Cup competitions for as long as possible. The Head Coach will also be able to call on Nuri Sahin and Erik Durm, who have been out injured for a long time and will be joining in training on the Persian Gulf.

Part of the training camp will involve two local friendly matches for Borussia Dortmund. On the 12.January (exact time and location have not been confirmed yet), BVB will play Bundesliga rival Eintracht Frankfurt. The match against the South Korean Champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC has been confirmed (Friday, 15.01., 13:35hrs CET, live on BVB total!).

Reports, photos and videos from the training camp will be available on a regular basis on bvb.de, bvb.total.de and on our Social Media channels.