Borussia Dortmund winter break plans

Borussia Dortmund’s winter break couldn’t come at a better time. On the field, BVB was struggling with a long list of draws and off the field, the injury list on the bench was proving to be extensive.

Following a brief time off to rest and relax, your men in striped yellow and black will resume preparing for what could be a very profitable second half of the season. Among the competitions that Borussia Dortmund is still competing in, Champions League is obviously the priority with a huge matchup with Benfica to prepare for. The DFB-Pokal is another competition that will resume with the round of 16 in early February that will see BVB take on Hertha Berlin.

With these huge clashes accompanying the typical Bundesliga battles, it will be important for Borussia Dortmund to cure many of the injuries, specifically to those on the backline.

As we’ve seen in the run-up to the winter break, losing Sokratis and Burki really hurt the early portion of matches when BVB were still settling in. Those two need to come back healthy and hit the ground running.

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The bulk of the winter break will reportedly be spent in Marbella (Spain) from January 5th-13th. During this time, BVB has also set up friendlies with PSV Eindhoven in Los Barrios Saturday, January 7th and against Standard Leige Thursday, January 12th.

There are several other storylines that should be on the front of Borussia Dortmund fan’s minds. First is that two weeks ago Thomas Tuchel hinted at turning the captaincy over to Marco Reus away from Marcel Schmelzer. Tuchel said he would wait until the winter break to really evaluate the decision, so we should find out in the next month. I’m not sure how much turning over the captaincy matters, but it will be nice to see Marco Reus really take on a leadership role and truly turn the club over to him.

The second big storyline to watch outside of the injury issues is the two friendlies that have been set up. They are both set to be on the road, the first against SC Paderborn who were recently in the Bundesliga, but now reside in the third division. That match is scheduled for Tuesday, January 17th. The second friendly will be played after the Bundesliga returns and will take place away to Rot-Weiß Erfurt on the 22nd of January. Rot-Weiß Erfurt also resides in the third division.

With these matches so close to a near must win against Werder Bremen, expect those in the squad who won’t be playing in the Bundesliga match to get some time to resharpen their form.

The last nugget to note is a little youth/reserve team action. The U-23s or BVBII finished off their 2016 with a clash with rivals Schalke which finished 0-0.

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The reserve unit currently sits in third place in the Regionalliga West or 4th division. The draw also means that BVBII will finish the first half of the season unbeaten with 11 wins and 8 draws.

So let’s all cross our fingers and wish Borussia Dortmund to have a happy and healthy winter break.

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Borussia Dortmund Winter Break Plans

By John Harbeck | Dec 22, 2016

Borussia Dortmund’s winter break couldn’t come at a better time. On the field, BVB was struggling with a long list of draws and off the field, the injury list on the bench was proving to be extensive.

More from BVB Buzz