Pre-Match Report
Continuing form against HSV – “We’ve made good progress”
The scenario
With their victory over Augsburg, BVB picked up their 56th, 57th and 58th points of the season, meaning they already have one more point to their name after 26 matches than they did in the whole of last season. Despite sitting second in the table with an eight-point lead over third place, BVB coach Niko Kovac said: “We haven’t achieved anything yet,” and he ruled out any experiments. “We may have more points than at the end of last season, but we still have some very difficult matches against direct rivals. We mustn’t rest on our laurels.”
Against Augsburg, his team “performed really well both defensively and in attack. We created plenty of chances,” says Kovac. “We’ve made good progress. We need to show that again against HSV. We want to keep improving over the next eight games.” So far, the Black & Yellows have lost only twice (both times to Bayern Munich) and they have never had fewer defeats at this stage of a season. With 22 points, Borussia also have the best record in second half of the season, ahead of Munich (20) and Stuttgart (18).
Personnel matters
Daniel Svensson, who had to be substituted against Augsburg with injury, returned to team training on Thursday and is fit for selection this weekend. Filippo Mane is still training individually, but according to Kovac, he is “expected to join us soon”. The three youth players Mathis Albert, Samuele Inacio and Almugera Kabar took part in the Premier League International Cup with the BVB youth team in England on Wednesday and have reached the semi-finals of the competition. They are due to return to first-team training on Friday.
The opponent
Hamburger SV travel to the Ruhr region in 11th place in the table. Last weekend, the team picked up a point at home against 1. FC Köln (1–1). But in the second half of the season, the Hanseatic side have been stronger away from home than at their home ground, the Volkspark. HSV are one of only three teams, alongside BVB and Bayern Munich, to remain unbeaten on the road, most recently securing a 2–1 win at VfL Wolfsburg. “I’m delighted with how HSV are doing in their first Bundesliga season since returning. Merlin (Polzin, ed.) and his staff, along with the players, have done a really good job so far,” says Kovac, who played for Hamburg from 1999 to 2001. “I expect it to be another very intense match. HSV will certainly sit very deep, just as they did in the reverse fixture, and will try to hit us on the counter-attack. For us, it’s about approaching the game with the same focus and concentration as we did against Augsburg.”
Emre Can
After Emre Can suffered a cruciate ligament tear in the home match against Bayern Munich at the end of February, the captain underwent surgery this week. The centre-back has now returned to Dortmund. “Emre will undergo his rehabilitation with us because here he has absolute experts who can help him,” explains Kovac. “From next week, he’ll be at the training centre every day so that he can receive the necessary treatment.”
Christina Reinke