Niko Kovac wary of Juventus and a fiery atmosphere | OneFootball

One day before the opening match in the Champions League at Juventus Turin, Niko Kovac and Marcel Sabitzer answered questions at the official matchday conference. The coach and midfield veteran of Borussia Dortmund showed their anticipation for the start of the Champions League, but also a certain tension.

"The Champions League is always something special, the biggest possible at club level," Sabitzer made no secret of his appreciation for the competition and emphasized his aim for the greatest possible success: "It's a long way to the final, it doesn't help much to talk about it or look ahead. Basically, you want to win every tournament, otherwise you don't need to compete."

Kovac confident despite Juve's qualities

Coach Kovac did not think that far, but primarily talked about the upcoming task in Turin. Before the guest performance at the Allianz Stadium, the 53-year-old football teacher showed respect in two respects. "Here, 40,000 enthusiastic fans will scream Juve forward," Kovac addressed the expected atmosphere, for which the BVB coach sees his protégés well prepared: "This means for my players that they should also withstand this pressure - and I am convinced that they will."

On the other hand, Kovac is also aware of the footballing qualities of Juventus, which has started the new season of Serie A with three victories and won a test match in Dortmund 2:1 in August. "We have already seen in the game in Dortmund what quality the team has, the squad is very broadly positioned. We will have to stretch ourselves tomorrow," Kovac emphasized the difficulty of the task, but at the same time also showed optimism: "We want to show that we have the qualities to hold our own here."

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