Kehl sees BVB “on the right track” | OneFootball

Across the past two seasons, in all competitions, Borussia Dortmund have only lost one of their last 18 matches: the quarter-final first leg at Barcelona last season. On the plus side, they have recorded 14 wins and three draws (in Munich, Turin and at FC St. Pauli) since the end of March. And if you include the FIFA Club World Cup in the summer, the record is not necessarily worse, standing at 17 wins, four draws and two defeats. “That shows that we are on the right track,” said Kehl.

For the first time since the 2018/19 season, then under Lucien Favre, Borussia Dortmund remained unbeaten until October at the start of a new season. Back then, the run went even further, until the beginning of November (a 2-0 loss away to Atlético Madrid). Defensive stability was also the basis back then, but there were also outliers, such as the spectacular 4-3 home win against FC Augsburg with a direct free kick from Paco Alcacer in the sixth minute of injury time. Until then, there had been several dangerous moments in their own penalty area, similar to Wednesday’s match against Bilbao between the 60th and 80th minutes.

Sporting director Kehl believes that today’s debriefing will focus less on the goal that made it 2-1, which he described as “slapstick”, and more on what happened in the minutes that followed: “I think Niko Kovac will be more bothered by the situations that followed, where they (the Bilbao players, ed.) suddenly started to pose a threat. Those are the situations we need to learn from.”

During this phase of the game, Daniel Svensson prevented an almost certain goal. “And then a game like this can turn around again,” said Kehl: “But it also shows that we are alert at that moment, that we are fresh and fit.” As in Mainz, the Swede was the goal scorer. He scored the goal to make it 1-0 against Bilbao. Svensson said of the minutes after his save: “It got tough again. But then we scored the third goal, felt a bit better again and just continued to defend well. We’re on a good run at the moment, everyone is enjoying themselves and likes going to training.”

Serhou Guirassy diverted a shot from the impressive Marcel Sabitzer to make it 3-1, and Julian Brandt scored the fourth goal in added time, which could prove important in the final standings. After the second matchday, BVB are seventh among the 36 Champions League participants. Eighth place would mean direct qualification for the round of 16, while 24th place would mean admission to the playoffs.

“We have a few tough games, especially away from home. That’s why we absolutely want to win our home games in order to achieve our goal,” said Kehl. In the Champions League, trips to Copenhagen (21 October) and Manchester City (5 November) are now on the agenda. In the Bundesliga, the first big test awaits on Saturday in the home game against Leipzig. “Things are looking good at the moment, we’re on a good run, we’re confident. Now we’re looking forward to Leipzig – it’s going to be another heated encounter,” explains the sporting director.Boris Rupert