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Pre-Match Report

“We need to get off to a good start in the second half of the season” – three players out against St. Pauli

Double home game for BVB: Following Tuesday’s home win against Bremen, attention now shifts to the next match in front of a home crowd. On Saturday (15:30 CET, live on Sky), FC St. Pauli will be the visitors at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK.

The scenario
With 36 points, BVB had their best first half of the season in seven years and have improved significantly compared to last season, when they only managed 25 points at the same point. This was mainly due to a strong defence: only league leaders Bayern Munich (13) have conceded fewer goals (15). After a 3-3 draw in Frankfurt at the start of the year, Borussia won 3-0 at home against Werder Bremen on Tuesday evening.

Niko Kovac sees six teams behind Bayern Munich fighting for three Champions League places. Of these, BVB are in the best position in second place. “Now it’s a matter of consolidating our position and trying to build on it. We want to do that in the first game of the second half of the season,” said the BVB coach, adding: “But we have to push ourselves. We have to make sure we continue to extend the gap to the teams behind us.”

Personnel matters
BVB have three absences to contend with: Aaron Anselmino trained with the team on Friday, the first time he has done so since his muscle injury. He completed parts of the session, but it is still too early for him to return to action. Ramy Bensebaini is out with flu after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations. Marcel Sabitzer “felt something in his calf” during the final training session, according to Kovac. The midfielder will also be unavailable for the match against the Hamburg-based club.

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The opposition
“I consider the match in Dortmund to be one of the highlights of the season,” says St. Pauli coach Alexander Blessin. “We want to take something away from it. We will have 7,000 fans behind us, and playing in Dortmund is always special. I don’t need any extra motivation.” At the start of the season at the Millerntor, St. Pauli came back from a 3-1 deficit to draw 3-3 with Dortmund thanks to late goals. Now the Kiezkickers travel to the Ruhr region in 17th place in the table, albeit having played one game fewer than their rivals. The match against Leipzig at the start of the year had to be cancelled due to weather conditions. Last Wednesday, St. Pauli lost 2-1 in Wolfsburg after previously going three games unbeaten.

“They are a team that defends very compactly for 90 minutes. I rarely see that in this form,” Kovac observed. “It will take patience, commitment and intensity from us. We have to put pressure on the opposition from the first minute. If we can do it like we did in the second half against Bremen, it will be good.”

Kick-off for the second half of the season
In front of their home crowd, the Black and Yellows want to set the course for the next 17 games. “We have to start the second half of the season well. It’s half-time and we have something to make up for from the game in Hamburg. That’s why we definitely want three points,” demands Kovac.

This is the first time in eight years that BVB have opened the second half of the season at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK: in the 2017/18 season, they drew 0-0 with VfL Wolfsburg. Since then, Borussia have played in Leipzig (a 1-0 win), Augsburg (a 5-3 win), Mönchengladbach (a 4-2 loss), Frankfurt (a 3-2 win), Leverkusen (a 2-0 win), Cologne (a 4-0 win) and, last year, Frankfurt again (a 2-0 loss) at the start of the second half of the season.
Christina Reinke

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