A family man, a tough tackler and an ever-present – 26-year-old Franz Pfanne is all those things and more. The defensive midfielder has been at Borussia Dortmund since the summer of 2020 and is one of the key elements of U23 coach Enrico Maaßen's footballing philosophy. In an interview, Franz Pfanne looked back at the first half-season and spoke about the opening fixture of the second half-season against Alemannia Aachen.

The winter break was more of a Christmas break. How did you spend the brief period with no football?
"I was with my wife and my child. We spent some very relaxing days with the family. We went on one or two walks. We enjoyed the time together very much and just took it easy."

The U23s have now been back in training for approximately one week. What's your impression of the team? 
"We were all longing for the Christmas break after such an intensive first half of the season. You can see in training how happy the lads are to be back on the pitch. Everyone is really raring to play football. We're all happy that we're back together again. The preparations are obviously different compared to usual. But the first few days were intense. Since this week, we've been focusing on our match preparation."

Do you believe it's a disadvantage not to have any friendlies in pre-season?
"We held an internal friendly. We have so much quality in the squad. The level was extremely high, so it served as a good dress rehearsal for Sunday."

You scored 44 goals in the first half of the season and there's still a game to play as well. The coach says you want to be even more effective in front of goal. What can you still improve defensively?
"We've conceded one or two goals too many from set-piece situations. We need to work on that. We set this as a objective even before the winter break. We need to make sure that everyone does their defensive duties. The coach always says that we need to want to defend. It might sound strange at first mention that a striker should have fun defending, but that's the recipe for staying organised and letting in few goals."

Before the season, many players and the coaching staff were new. How did you manage to form a unit so quickly?
"The process of integrating the many new players happened entirely automatically. The coach places a great deal of focus on the team unit. We became a tight-knit group very quickly. A training camp always makes a contribution to that. You're in contact with your team-mates even when there's no training. The process has been extremely successful for us, in part because we started the season with many positive results."

You've played every minute of all 19 games this season. Was that to be expected given the congested fixture schedule and how happy were you when the final whistle sounded in the last game of 2020?
"The coach has built on three pillars: Steffen Tigges, Niklas Dams and myself. It was therefore to be assumed that we would play many games. But I was not expecting the fact that I would play 90 minutes in all 19 games. I was very happy after the final whistle against Düsseldorf, because I was pretty physically exhausted. We're not quite as used to it as the professionals, who regularly play in the Champions League, have a lot of English weeks and play so many matches. For us, it was a new situation that was very demanding. That said, the way in which we dealt with it was outstanding. I was happy that we then had a two-week break and that I'm now starting the day with a different mindset again."

You'll be in action against Aachen on Sunday. What kind of game are you expecting?
"Aachen have a reputation for being very physical. They play man to man across the whole pitch. That's very unpleasant. We noticed that in the first half of the season as well. In a game like that, you can't always play the ball out from the back with low passes. Other things are required. What matters is being physical and vocal – they are things that set us apart. That'll be particularly important in a match like this. We're looking forward to being back in competitive action."

The opening game of the second half-season against Aachen will take place at the Dortmund-Brackel training ground at 15:00 CET on Sunday. The game will be broadcast live on BVB-TV by 1&1. 
Interview: Timo Lammert