Jürgen Klopp was left laughing at the comments made by Mats Hummels. Borussia Dortmund’s captain was asked by an Italian journalist whether he would be firing his teammates up before the second leg of their last 16 clash with Juventus in the Champions League tonight (20:45 CET).
“The manager does most of that for us,” said Hummels, who was sat next to a grinning Klopp. “Occasionally it’s one of the players, whether it be Kehli (Sebastian Kehl), Roman (Weidenfeller), Nuri (Sahin) or me,” added the BVB captain.
“I’m sure that no one in the team needs any motivation. We all know how we have to approach the game,” explained the World Champion before allowing his manager to take over at a packed out press room at the Signal-Iduna-Park on Tuesday evening.
Klopp: “It’s one of the toughest challenges in football”
“We’re up against one of the toughest challenges in football: to play against an Italian side that only needs to draw,” believes Klopp. After the 2-1 defeat at home in the first leg three weeks ago, Dortmund are still in a good position to go through. “We don’t have to win 9-0, only 1-0,” said the BVB manager. “It’s possible.”
Today’s meeting will see the two sides from the 1997 final go up against each other once again. BVB won 3-1 18 years ago in Munich, which is the biggest success in the club’s history. But Klopp has said that it should remain as good memories and nothing more. Just as back then, both teams are full of their respective international players.
Hummels: “We have to be more determined in the final third”
It’s likely that Germany internationals Roman Weidenfeller, Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer, Sven Bender, Ilkay Gündogan and Marco Reus will all start the game. Klopp could decide to go with more creativity in a 4-2-3-1 formation due to the fact that Nuri Sahin won’t be fully fit.
Ilkay Gündogan could return for the out-of-form Shinji Kagawa just behind the striker, whilst Sven Bender could start alongside Sebastian Kehl in holding midfield. If the manager decided to play Henrik Mkhytarian in the middle, with Marco Reus on the left and Jakub Blaszczykowski on the right then Gündogan would surely partner Bender in holding midfield.
“We have to be more determined in the final third and be more clinical in front of goal than we have in our last two games,” said Hummels after BVB failed to score in 180 minutes against Hamburg and Köln. “We’ll go into the game as if it was a Bundesliga game and as if the score is 0-0.”
Reus: “Keep hold of the ball better in and around the box”
Jürgen Klopp was left laughing at the comments made by Mats Hummels. Borussia Dortmund’s captain was asked by an Italian journalist whether he would be firing his teammates up before the second leg of their last 16 clash with Juventus in the Champions League tonight (20:45 CET).
“The manager does most of that for us,” said Hummels, who was sat next to a grinning Klopp. “Occasionally it’s one of the players, whether it be Kehli (Sebastian Kehl), Roman (Weidenfeller), Nuri (Sahin) or me,” added the BVB captain.
“I’m sure that no one in the team needs any motivation. We all know how we have to approach the game,” explained the World Champion before allowing his manager to take over at a packed out press room at the Signal-Iduna-Park on Tuesday evening.
Klopp: “It’s one of the toughest challenges in football”
“We’re up against one of the toughest challenges in football: to play against an Italian side that only needs to draw,” believes Klopp. After the 2-1 defeat at home in the first leg three weeks ago, Dortmund are still in a good position to go through. “We don’t have to win 9-0, only 1-0,” said the BVB manager. “It’s possible.”
Today’s meeting will see the two sides from the 1997 final go up against each other once again. BVB won 3-1 18 years ago in Munich, which is the biggest success in the club’s history. But Klopp has said that it should remain as good memories and nothing more. Just as back then, both teams are full of their respective international players.
Hummels: “We have to be more determined in the final third”
It’s likely that Germany internationals Roman Weidenfeller, Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer, Sven Bender, Ilkay Gündogan and Marco Reus will all start the game. Klopp could decide to go with more creativity in a 4-2-3-1 formation due to the fact that Nuri Sahin won’t be fully fit.
Ilkay Gündogan could return for the out-of-form Shinji Kagawa just behind the striker, whilst Sven Bender could start alongside Sebastian Kehl in holding midfield. If the manager decided to play Henrik Mkhytarian in the middle, with Marco Reus on the left and Jakub Blaszczykowski on the right then Gündogan would surely partner Bender in holding midfield.
“We have to be more determined in the final third and be more clinical in front of goal than we have in our last two games,” said Hummels after BVB failed to score in 180 minutes against Hamburg and Köln. “We’ll go into the game as if it was a Bundesliga game and as if the score is 0-0.”
Reus: “Keep hold of the ball better in and around the box”
“We didn’t take our chances to get the ball into dangerous areas and get in behind the defence,” was Reus’ criticism after the most recent game, in which they failed to score. “We have to hold onto the ball better in and around the box. Then things will look a lot different.”
Juve are “incredibly experienced, very clever and play good football but they’re not unbeatable,” said Klopp in his motivational style. “If we play really well then it won’t be fun for Juve. I love the big moments in football and we could cause one of them.” Hummels also spoke about the special atmosphere at home. “We want to make sure that the fans are fully in the mood from the off.”
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon knows exactly how it feels to play in front of 60,000 Dortmund fans. The Italy captain has had to withstand the pressure from the stands both with the national team and with Juve. “It’s a great pleasure to play in front of such crowds,” explained the 37-year-old. “Games in Dortmund are never low-key. There is always a great atmosphere.”
Buffon: “Emotions always run high in Dortmund”
Buffon and Italy won their 2006 World Cup semi-final against Germany in Dortmund 2-0 after extra-time. “They were all great experiences, both with club and country. The emotions always run high here,” said Buffon, who has made 145 caps for Italy, which makes him all-time appearance record holder for his country.
47-year-old manager Massimiliano Allegri has Italy internationals Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini and Claudio Marchisio in his squad. Allegri will be without playmaker Andrea Pirlo for the game due to a calf injury. He was one of three players from both teams to play back in 2006 alongside Buffon and Sebastian Kehl. Borussia would definitely like to avoid extra-time against the current leaders of Serie A.
