Niko Kovac with a clear mission ahead of the match against Villarreal | OneFootball

ScenarioThe match against Villarreal marks the start of the second half of the league phase in the UEFA Champions League for the Black and Yellows. After two wins (Athletic Club, Copenhagen), one draw (Juventus) and most recently one defeat (Manchester City), Borussia Dortmund are in 14th place in the table with seven points. Finishing in this spot would guarantee Borussia Dortmund a place in the play-offs, while direct qualification for the round of 16 would be secured by finishing in eighth place, which is currently occupied by Liverpool, who have nine points.

Personnel mattersIn addition to Niklas Süle, who has not yet returned to team training due to his toe problems, Borussia will also be without Maximilian Beier on Tuesday evening, who had to leave the final training session early. Niko Kovac spoke of “muscular problems” at the press conference: “Maxi played 90 minutes against Stuttgart on Saturday and held out. Nothing is broken, it’s just some stiffness,” said the BVB coach. There is good news, however, for defender Ramy Bensebaini, who returned to team training after his back problems. Emre Can admits that he still has room for improvement after his long absence, but, according to the BVB captain, “if the coach picks me tomorrow, I’ll be 100% ready.”

The oppositionVillarreal currently have something of the Jekyll and Hyde about them: on the one hand, things are going really well for the club from eastern Spain in La Liga. After 13 matchdays, Marcelino’s team are third in the table with 29 points — narrowly behind the two giants Barcelona (31 points) and Real Madrid (32) (see facts). “The fact that they are there means that they are performing really well,” says Niko Kovac about the opponent. In the Champions League, however, things are not looking so good for Villarreal: with only one point from four games (a 2-2 draw with Juventus), the Spaniards are in 32nd place in the table.

“They haven’t achieved what they could have in the Champions League,” explains Kovac, warning ahead of Tuesday evening’s clash: “That doesn’t make things any easier for us; they will give everything to get through to the next stage.” To do so, Villarreal would have to finish the league phase in 24th place, where Napoli currently sit with four points. The BVB coach has no doubt that the Spaniards can still reach the knockout stages of the Champions League: “Their players are technically very skilled, very fast and have a very good transition game.”

First competitive match BVB and Villarreal have never met in a competitive match, but they have played each other twice in friendlies: in 2022 and 2024, Borussia played against the Spanish side during their summer training camp. The result: a 2-0 defeat on the first occasion, and a 2-2 draw last year after goals from Jamie Gittens and Marcel Sabitzer. To ensure that the first competitive match against Villarreal ends in victory, Niko Kovac is demanding concentration above all else from his team: “We want to win, that is our clear mission, our clear goal. To do that, we need a strong performance.”Nina Bargel-Neuhaus