The Champions League game away to Atlético Madrid will also be a very special one for Julian Ryerson: the 26-year-old is in the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in his career. The defender, who also made his Champions League debut in one of his first games for BVB against Chelsea in the round of 16 in February 2023, is focused on winning ahead of the clash with Atlético.

"There is of course very big excitement, the match will be something special, we all know that," said Ryerson, who has now made five more Champions League appearances following his debut in the competition last year, prior to the match at the Estadio Metropolitano on Wednesday evening (21:00 CET). The Norwegian remains fully focused, however: "Nonetheless, I'm trying to stay calm and conserve my energy until kick-off."

The Borussia player is hoping to make use of the atmosphere at Atlético Madrid's stadium. "I'm looking forward to a new opponent, a new stadium, but I won't watch anything beforehand. I don't want to have too much respect for it; rather, I want to use the energy at the stadium in my favour."

Ryerson, who missed the 2-0 round of 16 first leg victory against PSV Eindhoven due to dermatitis, does not believe that the Madrid outfit have an advantage due to their fixture-free weekend ahead of the match-up with the Black & Yellows. "It doesn't really matter; we can't influence something like that. We can only influence what we do and that's what counts," said the full-back ahead of the match against Diego Simeone's team, who have reached the quarter-finals of the continent's elite club competition seven times in the last 11 seasons.

"Atletico naturally have an experienced squad, a team that have been there frequently in the last 10 years and have come a long way. They're on a four-match unbeaten run at home in the Champions League, so let's see if we can break that streak," said Ryerson, who doesn't want to focus on the statistics, however. "We've got two games against Atlético coming up and that's all that matters. We have to be present from the start and not be afraid. But I'm not worried, I think we're ready."