BVB women face Leverkusen's U23 away from home | OneFootball

The scenarionLast week's narrow 2-1 defeat in the Westfalenpokal at FC Schalke 04 was reason for frustration among the Black & Yellows. Coach Markus Högner looks back: “Naturally, we wanted to reach the quarter finals with a win in this derby, but unfortunately, we had to settle for a very unlucky turn of events.” This makes it all the more important to approach the upcoming league matches with complete focus: “The next two games are extremely important. Bayer Leverkusen's U23 are a side that have improved during the course of the season and who are prepared very well due to the clear instructions of their coach Mirko Casper.”

Personnel mattersAfter their hard-fough match at Gelsenkirchen Park stadiun in freezing temperatures, it's good news that BVB's women's team have no new injuries to report. “This week, we were not only able to train well but also to prepare meticulously for the upcoming matchday,” said Markus Högner. “Now it's just a matter of getting back into our regular Regionalliga rhythm.”

The oppositionBayer Leverkusen's U23 women's team currenly sit in fourth place in the table, close to the top three teams. “The players have shown typical development for youth teams so far,” analyses Markus Högner. “They have improved week by week and therefore achieved correspondingly successful results.” With an average age of 18.7, the Dortmund head coach says they will have to prepare for an extremely talented team. In Alisa Sinani, the Rhinelanders possess a striker who scored no less than 14 goals in the first half of the season: “An absolute top striker who will challenge defensively on Sunday.”

“Developing a winner's mentality“The away match against Bayer Leverkusen also marks the start of the second half of the Regionalliga West. The first leg, which the Black & Yellows won convincingly with 6-0 in late August, marked the beginning of what has been an exciting period for Markus Högner and his newly formed team: “We look back on the first half of the season with some new challenges, many convincing wins, but also a couple of avoidable setbacks. Only by learning to overcome setbacks like these, you can develop a winner's mentality. We have succeeded brilliantly in doing this in the league recently which shows that we have grown together as a team, both on and off the pitch.”

The match against Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday 30 November, will kick-off at 14:00 CET in Rhein stadium in Monheim (Kapellenstr. 1, 40789 Monheim am Rhein). Admission is free for all fans. Pluto TV will broadcast the match live and free of charge.

Robert Targan