Following a courageous display against Barcelona in the midweek, even at the cost of the Champions League campaign, Borussia Dortmund finally got some more confidence to finish the season strong. With the European race still open, the Black-and-Yellows will face the co-brothers in Borussia Mönchengladbach on Easter Sunday for the Bundesliga at the Signal Iduna Park.
The Prussians are one position ahead of BVB with only a two-point differential, which could be a make-or-break kind of match for Niko Kovač and company. Speaking of Kovač, he addressed several relevant topics for BVB fans in this afternoon's press conference. On the available players for this match, it should not be much different from the midweek clash against Barça:
"Emre Can and Carney Chukwuemeka have partially trained. Everyone from the Barcelona game is available. "Niko Kovač
Apparently, there is still some hope for the captain to join the match day squad against Gladbach, but it all should be assessed on the day, as Kovač aims to keep the same pattern of play that worked against the Catalans, and, personally, he is not wrong about that:
"We have a competitive situation. I have a choice for the weekend; it is a nice game. Everything was right against Barcelona, so there is no reason to change. I already have my ideas, but we first have to see how things look with Emre."Niko Kovač
In his diagnostics of players in particular, Julian Duranville caught some attention after his excellent cameo in the second half against Barça. Juju definitely deserves more love as he has shown on multiple occasions the kind of player he can become, but even so, he needs time to get more first-team experience. And Kovač agrees:
"He is a young, talented player. We need a push from the bench in games like this. He still needs to become more concrete, but he is on the right track."Niko Kovač
On the other hand, Carney Chukwuemeka still needs to do more to guarantee that Borussia Dortmund will pay his purchase clause in the summer, as he has been injury-prone despite his interesting characteristics and good qualities in the minutes he has played. And, apparently, nothing is decided just yet, as much as Kovač seems to like him:
"We will have to discuss Carney after the season. He is in a completely new situation; he hardly played at Chelsea. We are happy to have him. I personally like him a lot, and it depends on many factors."Niko Kovač
Lastly, on the players' side, Kovač paid many compliments to Pascal Groß and, despite his mistake in Barcelona's goal, the veteran had a valuable piece since the Croat joined:
"He is an experienced player who has already been through a lot. He has a very broad mind and demands a lot. The way he did against Barcelona - that is what I want! He is responsible and wants to take things into his own hands."Niko Kovač
As Dortmund is in good form and seemingly finding the ideal starting XI with the back-three formation, I agree that Kovač should maintain the same structure, despite my initial desire for Sahin to insist on the same idea at the beginning of his tenure as BVB manager. Kovač also talked about this topic:
"When we look at Mainz, Freiburg, and Münich, we have clearly stabilised. It is all about passion, intensity, and aggression, and we showed the boys that again today. We can play football."Niko Kovač
Finally, Kovač gave his prognostics of Sunday's match, as it is pivotal to win that one if there is any chance left for Dortmund to qualify for Europe next season:
"We are up against an opponent who is ahead of us in the table and has won four of their last five away games. But I do not want to look any further. First, we want to win the game this weekend, and then see what happens after that."Niko Kovač