Seventh heaven for BVB as pre-season success augurs well for Bundesliga kick-off
It was a result that was not entirely unexpected for Borussia Dortmund — but for Lucien Favre’s men the feeling to be able to chalk up an early cup victory with the league season almost upon us must have been more than satisfactory.
Favre’s men got in the mood for the new Bundesliga campaign next Saturday — when they host Augsburg in the opening fixture of the season — with a 2-0 DFB Cup triumph away to third division minnows Uerdingen on Friday.
Goals from Marco Reus and Paco Alcacer did the damage, with the first strike coming after 49 minutes and the second then following with 20 minutes of the game remaining. It was a good run-out — though not that taxing it has to be said — for BVB with the chance taken to field recent recruits Thorgan Hazard and Nico Schulz.
Mats Hummels, who returned to the club from champions Bayern Munich at the end of last season, was also in action and he and Alcacer were both denied by keeper Lukas Königshofer early on as Favre’s men started strongly and continue to dominate a lot of aspects of the game against spirited opponents. They fought well and deserve load of credit.
Reus struck just after the break when he latched on to Manuel Akanji’s hopeful ball and he stayed calm to open the scoring from inside the box. Then, in the 70th minute, Spanish ace Alcacer smashed home in a rifling free-kick from distance to put the result of the tie beyond doubt.
A day later BVB’s extended squad was put to use once more when they played their seventh pre-season friendly — and seventh triumph — as they notched up a 4-0 victory over Prussia Munster. Spokesman Sebastian Kehl, who is the club’s head of the licensing players department, says there is still time to improve and try out different formations with interchangeable personnel and to work on tactics also, as discussed with head coach Favre.
He told the club’s official website news section:
“Next week, we’ll mix it up again and work hard on a few things that is for sure. Our preparations, as the coach has repeatedly emphasised, are not yet over.”
And speaking specifically about the win at Munster, he added:
“It was very important for everyone to get a run-out, show themselves and make their case. But we could’ve seen a bit more from one or two. There wasn’t enough tempo in our play in the first half; lots from side to side, not enough movement or depth. In short, we were missing everything we expect from our game. We were involved in some good moves, played with more purpose and scored some nice goals.”
