Niko Kovac after first Bundesliga win: ‘We got the lucky own-goal today.’ | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund’s massive 6-0 win over Union Berlin in the Bundesliga’s Saturday evening Topspiel left BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl feeling relieved. In point of fact, the front office let out several sighs when speaking to reporters in the mixed zone.

“Everyone is relieved,” Kehl said. “One hasn’t seen the spectators so euphoric in a long time. It’s good that spectators are going home with a smile again. They deserve it.“

As relieved as Kehl was, the man who truly got the monkey off his back was newly appointed Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac. The former Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg man finally has his first Bundesliga win with his fourth top flight club.

After defeats against Stuttgart and Bochum, it proved third-time lucky for Kovac. The new coach made specific reference to luck at the post-match press conference. Namely, the Waldemar Anton’s own-goal against Stuttgart that got his tenure off to a rocky start.

“In the first 15 minutes we were too slow, too precise, too complacent,” Kovac said. “Then we had some luck with [Diogo Leite’s] own-goal. That happened to us against Stuttgart. That loosened us up a bit.

“We also needed another 10 to 15 minutes to get going in the second half,” Kovac continued later. “Then it was a great game from my team. They played themselves into a frenzy. We’ll keep it in perspective as we have many important matches coming up.”

GGFN | Peter Weis