Niko Kovac prior to first competitive game against Essen: “I know that it gets electric there" | OneFootball

Club World Cup, friendlies, training – after a short summer break, the Black & Yellows will return to competitive action in Essen on Monday. Niko Kovac began preparing for the opposition two weeks ago: the BVB coach paid a visit to Stadion an der Hafenstraße for Essen's opening game of the 3. Liga campaign against 1860 Munich and gained a personal impression of BVB's Ruhr neighbours, who drew 1-1 against their Bavarian opponents.

“I know that it gets electric there," explained Kovac, who is expecting an intense match and went on to add: “We have to make sure that we control the game as quickly as possible and score goals to turn this match into a simple task. We will try to put our stamp on the game.”

But Borussia will not underestimate the Essen outfit in the process: “We will take the opposition very, very seriously. Only then will we have the opportunity to progress to the next round. If we think it will happen automatically, then it will be quite a long and difficult evening,” stated Kovac. But above all – and the Borussia man stated this emphatically – Monday evening will be “about what we do”. “We have to produce a performance, and that performance must not be 95%, but 100%.”

Niko Kovac: "We're feeling positive"

Kovac will travel to Essen without the injured Niklas Süle, Julien Duranville and Nico Schlotterbeck. The match against Essen will also come too soon for captain Emre Can. The BVB boss already has an idea of who could start in the back three after Süle was ruled out on Monday: BVB youngster Filippo Mane, who produced good performances throughout pre-season and enjoys Kovac's “complete confidence”. “Unless nothing unexpected happens now in training, he will be shown this trust – we're feeling positive about him.”

In contrast to the Black & Yellows, the Essen outfit and their coach Uwe Koschinat are already fully in competitive mode: Rot-Weiss have drawn against 1860 München (1-1) and TSV Havelse (1-1) in their first two games of the 3. Liga, where they have been playing since 2021 and even faced the BVB U23s last season. The earlier start to their league campaign means that Essen are of course more settled and wil “defend well, play in an aggressive manner and hope for counter-attack situations,” explained Kovac, who nonetheless clearly stated: “We're the Bundesliga club, we want to go through. The shortest route to a title is the DFB-Pokal.”

Hence why the Borussia boss and his coaching team “will put everything in place to ensure that the boys have all the information they need to win this game.” Above all, this includes converting the high share of possession the coach predicts for the game against Essen into goals: “We will sharpen the players' senses, because it's all about hitting the ground running.”

By implementing this plan, Kovac wants to ensure he tastes victory on his second visit of the month to Stadion an der Hafenstraße – and leads BVB into the next round of the DFB-Pokal.

Nina Bargel-Neuhaus