After defeat, Niko Kovac speaks on ‘difference in levels’ between Phil Foden and Karim Adeyemi | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund became the latest Bundesliga club to suffer a severely lopsided loss in the 2025/26 Champions League group phase last night. BVB head coach Niko Kovac – like Eintracht Frankfurt’s Dino Toppmöller (after the Liverpool shellacking) and Bayer Leverkusen’s Kasper Hjulmand (following the humbling from PSG) received his turn on Wednesday. 

Kovac looked haggard when appearing at the post-match press conference following the defeat to Man City. It didn’t help when a reporter asked him why it was that Dortmund didn’t seem capable of competing against the “top teams“. Dortmund, who succumbed to the seemingly unstoppable Bayern Munich in the league a little over two weeks ago, simply aren’t here Kovac wishes them to be. 

“We’re just not far enough along yet,” Kovac said. “One must state that clearly and unequivocally. That’s a seriously top world class team that lined up against us today. We were also playing away. We’ve played three away fixtures in the Champions League thus far this year. I would like to point out that we’ve picked up seven points from four games. We’ve just got to grab the points at home now.

“We clearly need to improve and one sees that, at the highest level. we just can’t afford to make mistakes,” Kovac continued. “Mistakes will be punished ruthlessly. Chances with minimal odds of success will be capitalized on by these world-class players. We must do everything we can to ensure that these chances are not given.”

On the topic of chances, Kovac answered a follow up question on the play of German attacker Karim Adeyemi. One of the Kovac’s starters, Adeyemi did push forward and made several dangerous forays into the box. Kovac took Adeyemi off the pitch in the 81st-minute. Cameras caught the BVB head coach giving the 23-year-old an encouraging pat on the back. 

“That’s an internal matter,” Kovac remarked with a smile. “We have a special relationship. Offensively, he played a good game. He needs to reward himself for his play more often because he had two or three really good chances. Note that, at the other end [Manchester City’s] Phil Foden converted similar chances. I wish he could have done the same, but he didn’t.

“Defensively, he played much better in the second half than in the first half,” Kovac continued. “It’s such that I was overall quite satisfied with his performance. But, naturally, an attacker wants to score goals. He didn’t manage that in this game, but I think he will in the next few ones.“

GGFN | Peter Weis