Pre-Match Report
Lars Ricken: “Our goal is to come back with a win”
Lars Ricken on Konstantinos Karetsas:
“Kos has a ligament injury in his foot. He won’t be flying to Baku and won’t be able to play against Frankfurt on Saturday either. That’s frustrating, of course, but we initially expected the worst after seeing the reactions of his players.”
… the trip to Azerbaijan:
“It’s been an intense week. Just a few days ago, we were still north of the Arctic Circle. After we got back, we headed to Berlin just a few hours later. Now the travel time to Baku is five hours. It’s worth mentioning, but no one’s going to complain about it. That’s just part of the deal when you play for Borussia Dortmund. Sabah is certainly a very strong defensive team with a lot of confidence. They’re in first place in the league, and they’ve just won in the Champions League. Nevertheless, our goal should be to return with a victory.”
… the standings after one win and one loss:
“Of course, we can read the standings and know which opponents are still ahead of us. Naturally, there’s a certain amount of pressure, but I think we should view this more as motivation and a privilege, because it also reflects our ambition—that we have high goals.”
… three consecutive games without a win:
“We can see that we’re going through a somewhat difficult phase right now. Going three games in a row without a win isn’t normal for Borussia Dortmund. But we have to remind ourselves that we established an excellent position for ourselves early in the season—in the Bundesliga, the DFB Cup, and the Champions League. That’s still the case. Now it’s about showing our willingness to fight and, in the truest sense of the word, to defend that position. But of course, we also want to take the initiative more often on offense again—to be aggressive and determined, create scoring chances, score goals, and regain that hunger to win the games at all costs. When you have a challenge like this in the Champions League, you can fly to Baku with enthusiasm and anticipation. That should be our mindset now.”
… the sluggish offense:
“It’s difficult. In principle, you can’t fault the team when it comes to attitude. They’ve really given it their all in every game. In all three games, we actually had individually stronger players in every position. But we shouldn’t rely on that during the games; instead, we need to work together as a united team from the very start to ensure that we win the games through our offense. The foundation, of course, lies in defense, but we’ve been proving that for quite some time now.”
Recorded by Christina Reinke