“A 50-50 game”: BVB boss Kovac wary of Leverkusen threat | OneFootball

It’s the marquee matchup in the Bundesliga. The team in second place hosts the team in sixth. In other words: Borussia Dortmund will face Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Saturday (April 11, 3:30 p.m.). Niko Kovac (54) is warning against the team from the Rhineland.

The memories are still quite fresh — and not good ones. At the beginning of December 2025, BVB hosted the Werkself in the Round of 16 of the DFB-Pokal. After 34 minutes, Ibrahim Maza (20) curled the ball into the top right corner, leaving goalkeeper Gregor Kobel (28) with no chance. It would remain the only goal of the evening. The Black and Yellows were knocked out of the competition in front of their home crowd and had to bury their hopes of a sixth cup triumph early.

“It’s a 50:50 game, and we have to make sure the scales tip in our favor,” Kovac warned on Thursday at the press conference ahead of the Leverkusen match. The cup meeting is “done and dusted,” the coach stressed, adding: “We were unfortunate to lose that game, that has to be said as well.”

The statistics back Dortmund’s head coach up. While the players in black and yellow fired 20 shots at the opposing goal, the visitors managed just six. But in the end, the scoreboard read 0:1.

For the rematch against the Rhineland side, Kovac will still have to do without long-term absentees Emre Can (32/torn ACL) and Felix Nmecha (25). The latter suffered a torn lateral ligament in his knee and is at risk of missing the World Cup this summer.

Progress for Silva

Nmecha is “a very important part of this team, especially in possession,” the BVB coach said enthusiastically about his midfielder. The Hamburg native has the “ability […] to recognize spaces, to play into spaces,” Kovac praised his number eight. The 25-year-old has a “very strong technical foundation,” something that was “missing” in the 2:0 win in Stuttgart. “Felix is very important for us,” he emphasized, underlining the importance of the six-time international.

Kovac also had words of praise for Fábio Silva. However, the 23-year-old striker usually does not get more than brief appearances. Not once has the summer signing from Wolverhampton Wanderers been on the pitch for the full 90 minutes. So far, he has scored twice in all competitions.

Photo: Getty Images

“For what feels like three or four weeks now, I’ve seen a Fábio in training who has really kicked it up another notch,” Kovac said of the Portuguese forward. “I’m seeing really big progress,” he said, praising the attacker’s performances, and Silva is also likely to get some minutes against Leverkusen.

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