“We’ll have to withstand a lot”: HSV boss Polzin ahead of BVB clash | OneFootball

With promotion to the Bundesliga, Merlin Polzin achieved a success with Hamburger SV that more prominent predecessors had failed to manage for years. But not only that: the 35-year-old coach even kept the Rothosen up. On Saturday (29 August, 6:30 p.m.), he and his HSV side travel to Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park.

Polzin is virtually gushing. “It puts a sparkle in your eyes,” he says, making no secret of his anticipation for the Bundesliga opener. “When the schedule was released, we knew this was exactly the match we’d be counting down to. It doesn’t get any bigger than this,” he explained at Thursday’s press conference ahead of the BVB clash.

The meeting with Borussia Dortmund is also the first marquee match of the new season. “We’re immediately in the spotlight,” Polzin says of the game’s significance, “so we have to be ready right away and deliver.” His team will “have to withstand a lot,” Polzin predicts. But he is convinced that his players are “absolutely determined” to “throw everything into it so that, on this one day, things go a little better than they did last season.”

On Matchday 27 of the 2025/26 season, HSV looked immensely strong for one half at Signal Iduna Park. Philip Otele (27) and Albert Sambi Lokonga (26) gave the Rothosen a 2-0 lead by halftime. Dortmund, by contrast, had nothing going their way. Felix Nmecha (25) woefully dragged a penalty wide shortly before the break.

Memories of last season

After the restart, Dortmund came out in a completely different state. Ramy Bensebaini (31), whose involvement on Saturday is doubtful, with two converted penalties, and Serhou Guirassy (30) turned the game around into a 3-2 win for the Black-and-Yellows.

“If you’re leading 2-0 at Borussia Dortmund until the 70th minute, then you can’t have done too much wrong,” Polzin recalls of the defeat. To make sure such a scenario does not repeat itself, he is demanding “passionate defending, a high level of concentration and intensity” from his team. Alongside the tactical performance, “a bit of luck in the game” will certainly also be needed for success, the HSV coach adds.

Photo: IMAGO

There is also plenty of praise for the opposition: “Dortmund have a clear structure to their play and have also become even more versatile. Through positional rotations and the quality of their individual players, for example, they repeatedly manage to pull the opposition apart.” BVB are also characterized by “a great deal of dynamism and pace,” Polzin analyzes. That is why his team must “defend compactly” and defend “with maximum intensity and full commitment.”

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