“Be at our best at all times” - Ole Werner ahead of #RBLBVB

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RB Leipzig

·19 February 2026

“Be at our best at all times” - Ole Werner ahead of #RBLBVB

On Saturday night, RB Leipzig will welcome Borussia Dortmund to the Red Bull Arena in the Bundesliga's primetime fixture. Ahead of the match, head coach Ole Werner spoke to the media about the upcoming opponent, which players are unavailable and what his approach will be against BVB.

Find all the key quotes below.

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Latest squad news:

David Raum is available again after having missed the last match due to yellow-card accumulation.
Péter Gulácsi partially tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee against VfL Wolfsburg and is expected to sidelined until the end of March.
Kosta Nedeljković is unavailable due to back problems.
Suleman Sani, Assan Ouédraogo and Viggo Gebel are all still sidelined.

The approach against BVB

"Borussia Dortmund are a top team. They don't deliver fireworks every week, although I do feel that they are somewhat unfairly criticised by the media for the way they play. They are a solid, clinical, successful side. They know what they want to do when they have the ball. They are strong in transition and extremely strong from set pieces. If you compare where BVB were a year ago to now, it's testament to the work of Niko Kovac. We also know that we're capable of a lot ourselves. That's what we want to show on Saturday night, as well as handing BVB their second defeat of the season. In order to do that, we need a top performance, which we back ourselves to deliver. We're not known for playing cautiously and we won't do that against Dortmund either. It's important that we look for ways to quickly move the ball up the pitch when we're in possession and that we avoid mistakes in our passing game. Counter-attacks will play a key role. We have to be at our best at all times."

Options in attack

"Serhou Guirassy has been one of the Bundesliga's best strikers for several years. Our strikers have only been playing in Germany for a year and are much younger. However, I'm convinced that we will be able to help Conrad Harder and Romulo get to the same level as Guirassy. It's normal for an attacker to go through phases in which the ball simply does not want to go in. Guirassy has also experienced that this year. I'm glad that we have the attackers that we have. I've got full confidence in them. We can certainly look forward to many good moments together with them."

Competition at right-back

"Benny Henrichs is getting closer and closer to being back to his previous best. One can't forget just how long he was out injured for. Given that, he's looked very solid and dependable so far. I'm pleased with what I've seen from him in training and in games.Ridle Baku is a bit more dynamic, while Benny is slightly better at reading the game in tight spaces and is able to make things happen from such positions. Both are very reliable defenders. It's a tight competition between two good players. My decision on who plays is, of course, made based on what they do in training. However, it also comes down to who we're up against and which of them is a better fit for the opponent."

The goalkeepers

"Maarten Vandevoordt has looked very reliable when he's featured for us. In my opinion, he also had a good game after coming on against Wolfsburg. He's extremely strong with the ball at his feet, which is also true of Pete. Maarten is extremely strong on his line and has our full confidence. I'm not looking four, five, six weeks in advance already in order to make a decision on what will happen when Peter Gulacsi is back available again. What matters to me is that we have a solid group of goalkeepers, which we currently do."