BVB U23 eye strong finish to end year on a high | OneFootball

With the 2-2 draw last weekend against SC Wiedenbrück, Borussia Dortmund II missed the chance to get significantly closer to the top of the Regionalliga West table. Going into the last match of the year against SC Paderborn II on Saturday (4 p.m.), BVB’s U23s are in fifth place, but at least have league leaders Fortuna Köln, who are five points ahead, still within sight.

The last match of the year also marks the start of the second half of the season, and BVB still has something to make up for against Paderborn. After all, the season opener ended in a disastrous 0-3 defeat in East Westphalia. They are determined not to let that happen again, with Daniel Rios—who was then still assistant coach and has since been promoted to head coach—putting the first-leg defeat into perspective and denying any thoughts of revenge on the club’s website.

Good Squad Situation

“We had control, but only a few chances. And Paderborn scored the 1-0 with our first mistake. But I don’t believe in saying: We have a score to settle. We want to focus on our strengths and play our game 100 percent,” said Rios, who still has to worry about Ayman Azhil, who is struggling with back problems, but otherwise—apart from the long-term absentees—has no injury concerns.

Rios, who will travel to the Premier League International Cup next week with a mix of U23 and U19 players before heading into the winter break, leaves no doubt about his goal and is aiming for another three points: “This is our last Regionalliga match in 2025. You can’t say: Next week we’ll have another chance to make up for something. That should motivate us to give that final push, so we can go into the winter break with a positive feeling.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.