Kovac calls for "passion, intensity, aggression" against Gladbach | OneFootball

A direct confrontation in the battle to compete internationally: Mönchengladbach are currently seventh in the Bundesliga table, just two points ahead of BVB in eighth place. A win would take the Black&Yellows ahead of their direct competitors and bring them one step closer to playing at European level. After two wins (against Mainz and Freiburg) and a draw against Bayern Munich a week ago, BVB were able to gain seven points in their last three league games. Their 3-1 win at home against FC Barcelona on Tuesday evening also gave them confidence. Due to the 0-4 result in the first game, the team has been knocked out of the competition, but was still able to give the top Spanish club their first taste of defeat in a competitive game this year.

"Performance, engagement, intensity, determination to win - it was all there. Huge congratulations again," said Nico Kovac, speaking about his team's Champions League performance. In general, the BVB coach has observed in the more recent games "a certain stability, a consistency," and has a clear ask for the final stretch of the Bundesliga: "In our next five games, we need to show the same standards that we set in the games against Barcelona and Bayern Munich, especially in the second half. Every individual knows that it's just about passion, intensity, aggression - we emphasised that to the boys again today. We know we can play football."

Training with Can and Chukwuemeka

In the game against Barcelona, captain Emre Can was still missing due to muscle complaints, but both he and Carney Chukwuemeka (thigh injury) may be returning to the squad for the game against Gladbach. Both joined in for parts of team training on Friday. Marcel Sabitzer (knee injury) and Nico Schlotterbeck, recently named Bundesliga Player of the Month for March, will not yet be returning. While Schlotterbeck will no longer play for the rest of the season, Marcel Sabitzer continues to make progress. The midfielder is doing running sessions and light work with the ball. "The plan is for that to intensify next week. I hope that he can join the team after Hoffenheim and be another alternative," said Nico Kovac, looking ahead.

The game against Hoffenheim is next week, so now the focus is on Borussia Mönchengladbach. "It's a similar constellation to the one against Freiburg and Mainz. It's a team that's currently ahead of us in the table, which we take very seriously and have a lot of respect for. We can expect an opposition that defends well and of course has offensive qualities too,' said Kovac, speaking about the Gladbach team, who have won four of their five most recent away games. "We need to approach it in exactly the same way we approached the previous games, because it's good for us to have the mindset that the next game is the most important. And we want to win the game at the weekend."

In recent years, the Black&Yellow Borussians have always succeeded in doing just that against this opposition: the Borussians from the Lower Rhine have not beaten Dortmund at home in any competitive game in over ten years - BVB won all eleven home games during this period. The three most recent home games have been particularly goal-heavy, ending 4-2, 5-2, and 6-0.

If BVB can win the game on Sunday too, the team would overtake another competitor in the race to play at international level.