Lothar Matthäus: Champions League form and Hans-Joachim Watzke's backing saved Edin Terzic from getting sacked

Lothar Matthäus believes that Borussia Dortmund's impressive results in the UEFA Champions League and Hans-Joachim Watzke's backing helped Edin Terzic keep his job as head coach.

Amid plenty of speculation, the Borussia Dortmund bosses made the decision earlier this week to keep Edin Terzic on as head coach for the foreseeable future. The 41 year old was under pressure due to the team's woeful run of form in the Bundesliga, but was given the club's backing during the end-of-year analysis meeting.

Lothar Matthäus feels that Terzic managed to avoid getting sacked as a result of Borussia Dortmund's impressive results during the Champions League group stage, and Hans-Joachim Watzke's backing of him at the start of the season.

"If you have a squad like Borussia Dortmund and the team is not performing, something must have gone wrong on the coaching side," Matthäus wrote in his column for Sky Sport. "Edin Terzic was saved by the results in the Champions League and Hans-Joachim Watzke's statement from six months ago."

"If only the results from the domestic competitions had been assessed, the decision would certainly not have been in Terzic's favor. In the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal, BVB did not show their quality. But Watzke's word holds a lot of weight in Dortmund. For this reason, and because of the successful Champions League group stage, Terzic can continue to work at his favorite club."

Watzke said a few months ago that Terzic will stay on as Borussia Dortmund head coach for years to come. The boyhood BVB fan nearly led the club to the Bundesliga title last season, but hasn't been able to build on that in the current campaign.

Borussia Dortmund are all but out of the Bundesliga title race, and find themselves six points behind fourth placed RB Leipzig going into the winter break. The Black and Yellows have also been eliminated from the DFB-Pokal, but finished top in their Champions League group to set up a last 16 tie against PSV Eindhoven.