“I won’t stand for that”: Frank Schmidt defiant ahead of clash with BVB | OneFootball

December 6th is already long past. Since then, 1. FC Heidenheim has not won a single match in the Bundesliga. After the 2-1 victory against SC Freiburg, there followed two draws and three defeats. On Sunday (February 1st, 5:30 p.m.), Frank Schmidt’s (52) team will visit BVB.

The head coach of Dortmund’s next opponent watched the Champions League last Wednesday. Schmidt was particularly impressed by the last-minute thriller between Benfica Lisbon and Real Madrid. The Portuguese needed one more goal at 3-2 to advance to the play-offs. Goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin (24) joined the attack and headed a free-kick cross perfectly into the net during stoppage time. Thanks to the 4-2, the club of star coach José Mourinho (63) overtook Olympique Marseille in the standings.

“I believe that anything can happen in football. Even things that no one believes in,” Schmidt recalled at Friday’s press conference ahead of the BVB match, referring to the drama at the Estadio da Luz. “Benfica Lisbon just showed that in the Champions League on Wednesday,” emphasized the long-serving FCH coach, concluding: “No one can tell me that every result in football is already predetermined.”

“Hard to score goals in Dortmund”

The bottom team in the Bundesliga is second to last in the away table with four points. Only Hamburger SV is worse, with three points. Borussia, on the other hand, has seven home wins and no defeats. Only Leipzig (1-1) and Stuttgart (3-3) managed to take a draw from Signal Iduna Park. “Of course, you could now ask why we’re even going there,” Schmidt points to his team’s underdog role, but immediately adds: “I won’t allow that.”

With just six goals conceded—half of which were scored by Stuttgart—BVB boasts the best home defense in the league. Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel (28) has kept a clean sheet six times. “It’s hard to score goals in Dortmund,” the Heidenheim coach also notes. He attests Dortmund “a high level of individual quality.” He is “well aware that this will be a tough match for us,” Schmidt explains. And he adds: “So there’s no need to beat around the bush: it will be a very tough task for us.”

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