Edin Terzic heaps praise on Steffen Tigges after Borussia Dortmund debut
By Tushar Bahl
Head coach Edin Terzic has praised Steffen Tigges after he made his senior team debut for Borussia Dortmund in the 2-0 win over Eintracht Braunschweig on Tuesday.
With Erling Haaland (torn muscle fibre) and Youssoufa Moukoko (minor knee injury) both out injured, Borussia Dortmund were left without any senior strikers for their DFB Pokal second round clash against Eintracht Braunschweig on Tuesday. While Lucien Favre would have undoubtedly gone with Julian Brandt or Marco Reus in the false nine role, Edin Terzic decided to call up U-23s captain and striker Steffen Tigges to the squad and put him straight into the starting line-up.
And Terzic’s decision was vindicated, as Tigges put in an encouraging display on his debut. The tall striker showed that he is capable of doing the job for the senior team. He held the ball up really well and made some very intelligent runs into the box, even though he did miss a couple of good chances.
Terzic heaped praise on Tigges after the game. Speaking during his post-match press conference, the 38 year old said that the striker did an ‘outstanding job’ on his Borussia Dortmund debut.
"“When we found out that it could be tight for Youssoufa, it was necessary for us to move quickly,” Terzic said. “The first idea was to bring in Steffen immediately. Steffen did an outstanding job of stepping up.”“He played a very good game for us, for the team. He was disappointed that he didn’t score a goal. He ran the routes he had to run. But that wasn’t the main thing today, and we told him that from the start. He won the ball back and held the ball up. We are very happy with him and his performance.”"
Borussia Dortmund player ratings from 2-0 win over Eintracht Braunschweig. dark. Next
Tigges was called up to the first team after scoring 12 goals and assisting seven for Borussia Dortmund II in just 18 appearances in the Regionalliga West (fourth division of German football). It remains to be seen whether the 22 year old will get further opportunities with the first team this season. But he certainly made quite an impression on his debut.