Drizzling rain and about 10 degrees Celsius in La Manga – Borussia Dortmund started the third day of their training camp in Spain in weather conditions similar to those at home in Germany.

Due to the friendly against Standard Liege in the afternoon, there was only one short training session scheduled on Saturday. The focus was set on set pieces. Jürgen Klopp’s men practiced numerous free-kick and corner situations, with both finishing and transition from defence to attack being part of the drills.

After the training on Saturday, which lasted no more than 60 minutes, Sven Bender made himself available to the media in the daily press conference in La Manga.

One of the questions asked was whether he had promised his twin brother Lars, who plays for league rivals Bayer Leverkusen, a fight to the finish line over the holiday period. No, that was not the case, said Sven Bender, he was actually happy for the success his brother has. “But we will give everything to reclaim second spot,” said the Dortmund midfielder, adding that he believed that the team lacked the absolute desire and will at the end of the first half of the season. “We will have to focus again on what has made us a strong team:  effective transitional play, aggressive defending, counter pressing. We will need to be 100 percent physical and have the desire to go, for instance, from 2-0 to 3-0.”

A few hours later, BVB had the first opportunity to implement this in the friendly against Standard Liege, and they at least managed to go from 1-0 to 2-0…