The international break did Borussia Dortmund's U23s good. Following a run of four consecutive defeats, the team initially took time to analyse the matches before quickly switching their focus to what lies ahead. There are still five matches to be played this year, the next of which involves a trip to Halleschen FC on Saturday (14:00 CET).

The home side from Saxony-Anhalt have had an average season to date. Convincing performances against top teams like Viktoria Berlin and Magdeburg have been diminished by defeats like the one against Havelse. In total the men from Halle have lost only three games, but there have already been six draws. Coach Florian Schnorrenberg's team tend to play in a flexible 4-2-3-1 formation that is spearheaded by their dangerous attacking players Terrence Boyd and Michael Eberwein, who both used to play for the BVB U23s. Striker Boyd has netted five goals in 13 appearances, while attacking midfielder Eberwein has found the net 10 times in 14 games. Julian Derstroff is another former Black & Yellow in the HFC squad. The 29-year-old has two goals from his 11 league appearances this term. While BVB took advantage of the international break to play a friendly in the Netherlands, Halle played in the quarter-finals of the Sachsen-Anhalt-Pokal, where they beat sixth-tier SV 1890 Westerhausen 2-0.

On the personnel front, BVB coach Enrico Maassen has almost a full squad available. Only long-term injury absentees Marco Pasalic and Kolbeinn Finnsson are missing. The statistics clearly point in BVB's favour. The men from Dortmund have won two of their previous six meetings with Halle, while the other four clashes ended in stalemate. Kick-off at the Leuna-Chemie-Stadion will be at 14:00 CET on Saturday. WDR will broadcast the match live on TV.