News
More quality and a tougher task
First the defeat in the north, then one day later then the setback of the injury to Reus: this week could have started better for those of a Black and Yellow persuasion. Nevertheless, the good start to the second half of the season in the Bundesliga continues to provide hope, even if the next opponent awaiting BVB – Bayer Leverkusen – represents a team from a different part of table than in the previous encounters against Augsburg, Cologne and Union Berlin. "In the league, our task is now to pick up where we left off," said sporting director Michael Zorc, "even if it was already clear to us that we will be facing a significantly tougher task after the games against Cologne and Union Berlin. Leverkusen possess a different level of quality." Coach Lucien Favre agreed with Zorc, saying that Leverkusen were "a different calibre". "We have to improve a lot of little things significantly. In Bremen, we were not good at intercepting the ball; we were not aggressive enough", continued the BVB coach.
As already announced on Wednesday, BVB captain Marco Reus will be missing for the next few weeks and unable to help the team get back to the virtues demanded of them by Favre. "We very much regret that Marco will be missing. He is very important for our team. Now the people coming in have to show that they, too, have a lot of quality," said Favre. One possible option would be Giovanni Reyna. After a goal on his debut in the Weserstadion, the coach won't rule out the possibility that the 17-year-old could be used right from the start: "Why not? It's possible. He can play several positions in the offensive third."
According to Favre, another new signing, Emre Can, is also on the verge of making a serious claim for a place in the starting line-up. According to the Swiss coach, Can had not had many opportunities to play recently in Italy, so would have to be introduced slowly, but was making very good progress in the past few training sessions. There was more good news from the training ground this morning, where the team was carrying out the penultimate session before the game on the Rhine. Raphael Guerreiro, who had been unavailable to BVB due to muscular problems, returned to training and is expected to be available on Saturday evening.