Kovac demands fight after Bodo loss: 'The decisive thing in football is attitude'
Dortmund coach Niko Kovac wants a response at Union Berlin after the 1-0 defeat in Bodo. Defender Nico Schlotterbeck is back, with only three long-term absentees missing.
Archive image · Photo: Sven Mandel / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovac demanded a reaction from his players ahead of Saturday's Bundesliga match at Union Berlin (1330 GMT) following their 1-0 Champions League defeat at Bodo/Glimt. The Norwegians were "more aggressive, faster, stronger in the tackle, more intense than us," Kovac said on Friday. "The decisive thing in football is attitude." In Berlin his team would have to "go to the limit", he added, warning that sides who try to take the game lightly struggle: "Many teams have experienced that."
Centre back Nico Schlotterbeck, who was left out of the trip to Norway to manage his workload after an ankle injury, is available again. Emre Can, Giannis Konstantelias and Justin Lerma remain sidelined long term. On selection, Kovac said: "Whoever is ready to take up the fight will have a good chance of playing."
The defeat also dampened Kovac's 55th birthday on Thursday. "There was a cake, there was a serenade. Nothing more was needed," he said. "It was rather subdued. 55 sounds good, but there was no schnapps."