Pre-Match Report
Kovac Counts on the Fans Against Frankfurt: “Cheer Us to Victory”
The scenario
After the “three Bs”—Bodø, Berlin, and Baku—covering more than 11,000 kilometers on the road, Borussia Dortmund will face Eintracht Frankfurt at home at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK for the first time in two weeks. “We’re finally playing at home again. It’s good to play in front of our own fans. I hope they’ll cheer us on to victory,” says BVB coach Niko Kovac ahead of the match.
Back in their own stadium, BVB is looking to get back to winning ways in the Bundesliga. Four wins to start the season were followed by two recent draws: a 2-2 tie against Bremen and a 0-0 draw at Union Berlin. The draw in the capital dropped BVB to second place in the standings—though only due to a worse goal differential. Like the Black and Yellows, league-leading Bayern Munich also has 14 points. With a win, the Borussians would take the top spot in the standings—at least for one night. The record champions won’t play until Sunday in Freiburg.
A key factor in this is the league’s best defense so far: BVB has conceded only four goals, and the team has kept four clean sheets.
Team News
All the players who traveled with the team came through the match in Baku unscathed. “We had the day off from training yesterday. That was also very important after the many kilometers we had to cover,” said Kovac. Find out here who is out for the match against Frankfurt and who received special praise from the coach.
Opponent
Frankfurt recently celebrated their first home win of the season with a 1-0 victory over 1. FC Köln. Prior to that, Eintracht had lost 0-6 on the road in Leipzig. With two wins, two draws, and two losses, the Hessians sit in 11th place. In six Bundesliga matches, they’ve already conceded 16 goals—four times as many as BVB. Against Cologne, Frankfurt kept a clean sheet for the first time this season. “They’d certainly like to have one or two more points, but their play has been inconsistent in recent games. A draw, a loss, a win—they’ve had it all,” said Kovac. “It’s a team that will finish in the top third of the table at the end of the season. I’m convinced of that.”
The Bundesliga record against Eintracht favors BVB: The Black and Yellows have won more often against Frankfurt than against any other club—52 times in total. Of the past 15 home games against the Hessians, the Borussians have won 14. Another Dortmund victory would also mark Eintracht’s 500th away loss in the Bundesliga.
Coaches’ Showdown
On the sidelines this Saturday, Niko Kovac will face an old acquaintance: Adi Hütter. The two coaches have faced off seven times so far—the first time 17 years ago: In October 2009, Kovac, coaching the Salzburg Juniors, took on Hütter’s SCR Altach. The two also share some professional history: In Frankfurt in 2018, Hütter succeeded the current BVB coach, and later they both stood on the sidelines for AS Monaco. Kovac’s focus today is on the Black and Yellows: “Wherever I work, I always leave my heart there,” says the BVB coach. “We want to achieve something even greater; to do that, we have to work hard, and we’ll give it our all.”
Christina Reinke