U23s away to SC Verl on Wednesday evening | OneFootball

Head-to-head record: The match on Wednesday evening will be the 30th between the BVB U23s and SC Verl. Borussia have the clearly superior record with 13 victories and also won the reverse fixture in Dortmund at the start of November 3-1 thanks to a brace from Jordi Paulina and a goal from Julian Hettwer. SCV have won nine games to date, while the teams have drawn seven times.

News from the U23 camp: The Dortmund reserves did not get their reward for a strong performance in the 3-3 draw with FC Ingolstadt at the weekend. The Black & Yellows were leading 3-2 with nine minutes to go until the final whistle and then conceded the equaliser. But the point did help them in the table: Borussia climbed up to 16th position and are no longer in the first relegation spot, which is now occupied by VfB Stuttgart II, who have the same number of points. BVB coach Jan Zimmermann is confident after the performance against Ingolstadt. "The first quarter of an hour and the result – meh. But everything else from the game should give us courage and lots of self-confidence. The second period was really good and we gave away little defensively. The lads believe in themselves." In addition to the long-term injury absentees, there are question marks over the involvement of captain Ayman Azhil.

Stats and facts on the opposition: The two teams were level on 26 points and side-by-side in the table at the end of the first half-season. But SC Verl have undergone a remarkable development in the second half-season: SCV have won seven of their 12 matches in the second half of the campaign, drawing on two occasions and losing only three times. That puts Verl in third position in the second half-season table. "They're having a super season. A courageous opponent that presses high and intensively awaits us. Verl link up a lot on the ball and are also enormously dangerous from set-pieces. If we show our qualities on the pitch, it will be an open and very interesting match," said Jan Zimmermann. Berkan Taz is the focal point of the Verl attack. The Berlin native laced his boots for the Black & Yellows in the 2021/22 season, scoring nine goals and notching 12 assists in that time. Coach Alexander Ende's team ran out 3-1 victors against SV Sandhausen at the weekend and are only four points off the promotion play-off place after winning five of their last six matches.