Lucien Favre clarifies statement after hinting he could leave Borussia Dortmund

After seemingly hinting that he could leave Borussia Dortmund in the summer, Lucien Favre has clarified his comments, saying his words were “misunderstood”.

Borussia Dortmund were bested 1-0 by Bayern Munich on Tuesday, effectively ending their title hopes as they now sit seven points behind Bayern with only 6 games left. Once again under Lucien Favre, they failed to live up to their own expectations in another big game. It has been the same story for nearly two years, they just never seem to bring their best performances when they play superior opposition. Because of this latest defeat it has lead to a lot of speculation around Lucien Favre’s future.

Lucien Favre’s contract is set to expire at the end of the 2020/21 season. And after yesterday’s defeat, rumours started to grow about the possibility of Favre and Dortmund parting ways at the end of this season. Favre did not help his cause when he spoke with Sky journalists after the game and had some cryptic words about his future rather abruptly.

"“This has been said here for months, I don’t read the papers. But I know how it works. I will make a statement in a couple of weeks. I keep calm now and trust myself.”"

These comments came after Kicker claimed that there are indications that Favre’s days in charge of Borussia Dortmund are numbered.

But today, Favre clarified his comments by saying:

"“My words in the post-match interview seem to have been misunderstood. All I wanted to do was answer the questions and say, “Now is not the time to take stock of the season. We still have six games left in which we have to give our best, and which we all want to win.”"

Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans Joachim Watzke supported Favre’s statement by saying, “There is currently no reason at all for a coaching discussion. The coach just wanted to say that we will, as always, do an analysis at the end of the season.” And: “He didn’t want to make a conclusion after the 28th game day in front of the Sky microphone. That’s what it was all about.”

It is no surprise to see these statements after rumours swirled last night about Favre potentially leaving at the end of the season. The reality is that a final decision on the Swiss trainer’s future isn’t likely to come any time soon, and will only be made after Borussia Dortmund finish their season.