For the third year in a row, La Manga in the Murcia region of Spain was the location for Borussia Dortmund's winter training camp. After a first half of the season beset by injury problems, they prepared for the second half under skies where the sun seemed reluctant to make an appearance.

“We need to make those things for which we are known clearer, more consistent and more sustainable on the pitch. That's all there is to it,” said Jürgen Klopp, talking about the training programme. His team finished the first half of the season in fourth place, five points behind second-placed Leverkusen. “We still have big objectives, and if come the summer we finish second then I'll get myself a big truck, and I'll drive around my garden and be overjoyed.”

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But first he had to get on a plane from La Manga for a flying visit to the Ballon d’Or in Zurich. Klopp finished runner-up in the World Coach of the Year 2013 award. “This is an amazing honour for our coach and for our club,” said BVB chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke, while Klopp managed to get over coming second to Bayern Munich's Jupp Heynckes, just like in the Champions League final.

Jonas Hofmann was voted Dortmund's Sportsman of the Year 2013. “Against Racism” was the slogan on Schal-la-la Day, where fans traditionally wear the BVB scarf at the first home game of the year. But it's not just on this day, but throughout the year, that the black and yellow acts as a clear signal against the far right.

In the friendlies against Standard Liège (2-0), VfL Bochum (2-1), 1. FC Kaiserslautern (3-1) and MSV Duisburg (6-1), the team did not pick up any more injuries and in fact their numbers were boosted with each game. For the first match after the winter break against FC Augsburg, only long-term injury absentees Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic and Ilkay Gündogan were unavailable. After just two minutes of play, however, Jakub Blaszczykowski suffered another painful fall: the turbo dribbler caught his foot in the pitch, twisted his knee and was out with a torn cruciate ligament.

The game was a bit of a mixed bag. After the injury to Blaszczykowski, Dortmund, playing a man short, took an early lead on 5 minutes with a Bender header from a Reus free kick, while Sahin scored BVB's second on the hour mark. However, Bender, who was playing as centre back in this match, scored an unlucky own goal when he tried to clear a cross by Hahn only to steer the ball into his own net. The only goal Augsburg actually scored came from a cross by Hahn which was headed into the back of the net by Ji to level the score at 2-2. It was ironic that it should have been Ji, who only days earlier had been announced as BVB's new signing for the 2014-2015 season, who made a name for himself with the Dortmund supporters and rescued a point for Augsburg.

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In response to the Blaszczykowski injury there was another new arrival. “I'd walk to Germany if I had to,” Milos Jojic reportedly said once. And now he was here. Hans-Joachim Watzke was happy with “a typical BVB signing” and described the role of the highly versatile midfielder, a Serbian U-21 and senior international, as “a signing with certain risks but also with big opportunities.” As far as the opportunities were concerned, Watzke was set to find out at the beginning of February.

But play continued in January, without Jojic for now. With a 2-1 win in Braunschweig, both goals scored by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, BVB set off on a bit of a winning streak...