Last home game of the season – “We want to put on a show for our fans.” | OneFootball

The scenarioBVB are aiming to secure second place in the league by getting their 13th home win of the season (out of 16 home games played so far). The Black & Yellows are currently sitting second in the table, five points clear of their closest rivals, Leipzig, and would be out of reach should they beat Frankfurt. “We want to finish this Bundesliga season in second place,” said Kovac. “Fourth last year, fifth the year before – finishing second would mean we’ve made progress that’s acceptable.”

Personnel matters After Karim Adeyemi had to sit out due to muscle problems, the attacker has now returned to team training. However, after four weeks without any Bundesliga action, “he’ll probably come off the bench,” said Kovac. “If he comes on, he can make an impact.” Felix Nmecha and Niklas Süle aren’t quite there yet, though they have already completed parts of team training. The final training session on Thursday will decide whether they return to the squad. Ramy Bensebaini is still suffering from pain in his foot. “I don’t think he’ll be fit for the Bremen game either,” explained Kovac, looking ahead to next week’s final match of the season.

The opponentEintracht Frankfurt are still fighting for a place in European competition. Having won just one of their last six Bundesliga matches, the team have slipped to eighth place. “They still have a chance of achieving their minimum target, which doesn’t make things any easier for us. But we’ll focus on ourselves,” said Kovac. “We definitely need to show a different side to ourselves after the game in Gladbach and play the way we did at home against Freiburg. It’s the last home game of the season. We want to give our fans something to cheer about, and it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side. We definitely want to show ourselves in a better light.”

The two sides have already met twice this season. First, Borussia won 4-2 on penalties in the DFB Pokal, while the reverse fixture in the Bundesliga ended in a 3-3 draw.

FarewellsThree first-team players who will be leaving BVB at the end of this season will be wearing black and yellow for the last time at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK against Frankfurt. Julian Brandt, who has been at Dortmund since 2019, is the longest-serving Borussia player of the trio. Niklas Süle joined BVB in 2022. Salih Özcan has also been wearing the Borussia Dortmund shirt since 2022 – apart from a six-month loan spell at VfL Wolfsburg. All three will be officially bid farewell by the club officials before the match and will receive their final round of applause from the South Stand. Niko Kovac has not yet decided which of them will be on the pitch, or possibly in the starting line-up. “I have my thoughts. I used to be a player myself and know what it means to a player, whether you start the game or come on as a substitute.” The manager intends to make a decision only after the final training session.Christina Reinke