Kovac ahead of HSV: “Three points are essential!” | OneFootball

Situation

BVB have come through an intense and demanding pre-season. Head coach Niko Kovac has only been able to work with a full squad for a few weeks, as players such as Gregor Kobel, Julian Ryerson, Ramy Bensebaini and Marcel Sabitzer returned later from their World Cup break. In the last two friendlies against Arsenal (3:2) and AS Roma (2:2), Borussia Dortmund showed promising signs in all areas of the team and gave a glimpse of their huge potential. That was also evident in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup against Bayern Munich, even though the clash with the double winners ended in a 2:1 defeat.

Kovac is determined to continue on that path with his team in the Bundesliga: “Last season, we had a very good team, and now once again we have a good team with a lot of talent. I do believe the team has the quality to achieve our goals. At the moment, we are still finding ourselves a little and don’t yet know exactly where we stand,” said the 54-year-old, who summed up the final phase of pre-season with the games against Arsenal, Roma and Munich as “good overall.”

Squad

On Saturday, long-term absentees Nico Schlotterbeck (ankle) and Emre Can (knee) will still not be available. Ramy Bensebaini was struggling for a few days after suffering a rib bruise in the Supercup match and was only able to train individually most recently. However, Niko Kovac did not want to rule out the defender’s involvement and kept his options open: “We’ll see tomorrow how things develop for the weekend. If Ramy can’t be involved, we’ll find a good solution,” said the Dortmund coach on Thursday. More here: The squad situation ahead of the Bundesliga opener.

Overall, Kovac stressed that he is very satisfied with the squad situation just ahead of the first Bundesliga match: “We have a good squad, with every position covered twice, and in some cases even three times. Everyone has to face that competition. That’s a good thing too — competition drives the business. If you have no competition, you get too comfortable.” Kosta Karetsas, Giannis Konstantelias, Joane Gadou and Joey Veerman could all make their Bundesliga debuts, with all four new signings having already made their first competitive appearances for BVB in the Supercup against Bayern Munich and already showing plenty of promise.

Opposition

After staying up as a promoted side in 2025/26, HSV have once again undergone major changes. Prominent names such as Luka Vuskovic, Fabio Vieira, Robert Glatzel and Ransford Königsdörffer have left the club, while Jean-Luc Dompé also moved on shortly before the Bundesliga opener. As a result, head coach Merlin Polzin has had to rebuild the HSV squad. New signings such as striker Patson Daka and midfielder Martin Adeline have already made an impact. Another key figure recently has been Albert Grønbæk, who has now been signed permanently. The Dane scored twice in HSV’s 3:0 cup win away to SC Verl and had already found the net in three friendlies beforehand. In addition, Sebastiaan Bornauw, an experienced Bundesliga centre-back, has been brought in to add more stability to the defence.

“We will certainly come up against a team that will be compact and transition well. They also have quality going forward,” Kovac warned about the visitors from the north. At the same time, he left no doubt about what he expects from the home match against HSV: “We want to apply pressure straight away at home and win the game. We want to start the season well, and for that we need three points. Three points are essential!”

Spectacle is almost guaranteed

For many years, Borussia Dortmund against Hamburger SV was the highest-scoring fixture in Bundesliga history, before HSV spent seven years outside the top flight. During that time, this traditional clash lost its unique status to BVB against VfB Stuttgart. After HSV’s return to the Bundesliga, the fixture picked up right where it had left off in 2017/18: seven goals were scored across the two meetings in 2025/26. In the first clash, BVB conceded a late equaliser in stoppage time to make it 1:1 at the Volksparkstadion. At SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, the Black and Yellows came back from 2:0 down in March this year to win 3:2. Altogether, there have been 370 goals in 104 Bundesliga meetings between the two clubs — an average of 3.6 per game. In Dortmund, this fixture has never ended goalless.

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