Borussia Dortmund will travel to Rhenish Hesse for their first away game of the year on Wednesday (25/01): FSV Mainz 05 will be the opponents at 18:30 CET.

The first week of competitive action in the New Year is an English week: having won their opening match against FC Augsburg on Sunday, BVB now face an away game against 12th-placed Mainz. The Matchday 17 clash on Wednesday evening will mark the end of the first half of the 2022/23 season for the Black & Yellows, who will then commence the second half of their campaign with another away trip to Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.

Since the 4-3 rollercoaster ride against Augsburg, BVB coach Edin Terzic has observed a "mixture of self-criticism and delight about the successful start with three points" from his players. With FCA having managed to cancel out Dortmund's lead on three occasions, the victory was up in the air for long spells. It was not until BVB's fourth goal that the visitors could not find an answer. "We observed a lot of issues in the match that we urgently need to correct. We started with that immediately afterwards with individual discussions and as a group," Terzic said. "In a moment, we'll recreate some scenes on the training pitch and watch them on video."

Marco Reus is set to recommence team training on Tuesday afternoon, having missed the 10 days prior through illness. A decision will then be made as to whether the captain can make the journey to Mainz. Emre Can has returned to training and is available to play. Sebastien Haller also came through his first competitive appearance for the Black & Yellows since his illness unscathed. Terzic said: "With Seb, we've decided to take it day by day. It's getting better and better; he's feeling more and more comfortable. He has rediscovered his rhythm. We hope we can increase the workload bit by bit."

Thomas Meunier and Mateu Morey will definitely miss out – as will Jude Bellingham, who picked up his fifth booking against Augsburg and must now serve a suspension. "He's an extremely important player for us who scored the opening goal for us again," said Terzic of the midfielder. "We'll of course miss him tomorrow morning, but it's the job of a good squad to compensate for that. We'll consider how we can make up for the loss and do the job without him."

Getting the job done means also winning the second competitive match of 2023 and improving upon their record on the road. With three wins and five defeats, BVB are down in 11th place in the away table. "That's also a topic that we discuss with the team. Our approach is not so different from the home games. The opponents are often slightly more courageous in their home games with their fans behind them," said Terzic, who issued a call to his players. "We urgently need to improve and pick up points on our travels too. That's also our mission for tomorrow."
Christina Reinke

BVB TV by 1&1: The press conference prior to the match in Mainz