Borussia Dortmund manager Niko Kovac has returned to work after nearly a two-month long vacation.
The squad began their preparations for the pre-season this week as they gear up for their opening friendly of the summer against RW Oberhausen on Saturday, 18 July.
Kovac aims for stronger runs in cup tournaments
Amidst the trainings, Kovac took some time to appear for his first interview post the summer break. The Croatian was pumped up for the new season ahead but also reflected on the last one, where he pointed out two major disappointments.
When asked about where the squad can still improve, he said:
"“As a coach, you’re never satisfied. If you break it down by the three competitions we had, you can be satisfied with the Bundesliga season. In the two cup competitions—the Champions League and the DFB Cup—we have room for improvement.""as quoted on Dortmund's official site
Borussia Dortmund achieved a respectable second-place finish in the Bundesliga last season with 73 points from 34 games, their highest finish in three years as well as their highest points-tally in the competition since 2019.
However, the side also made early exits from both the cup tournaments they played in. Dortmund were knocked out from the DFB Pokal in the Round of 16 following a tame 1-0 home loss to Bayer Leverkusen before blowing up a 2-0 advantage to lose 4-3 on aggregate to Atalanta in the UEFA Champions League knockout playoffs. For the first time since 2022, Dortmund had failed to reach the last-16 of the competition.
Kovac sounded determined to do better in both these competitions next season and places his faith on the young crop of players within the squad. He further added:
""We certainly want to perform better there than we did last year. Every single player can improve—technically, tactically, and physically. So we’re not done yet, especially since we now have so many young players on the team. The progress we’ve made has been very, very good. And yet we can still squeeze out a few more percentage points.”"said Kovac
When are the BVB scheduled to start cup tournaments?
While their Bundesliga campaign opens on 29 August against Augsburg, Borussia Dortmund play their first DFB Pokal match just a few days later on 1 September, against HEBC Hamburg, away from home. As for the Champions League, the Black and Yellow will learn their fate for the league phase of the tournament on 27 August with opening fixtures set for 8 September.
Dortmund engage in another cup next month
Before any of those tournaments begin, Dortmund will be involved in another cup next season as the club has qualified for the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup and will come up against arch-rivals Bayern Munich on 22 August in the one-off final at the Signal Iduna Park. Niko Kovac will be aiming to lift his first piece of silverware with Dortmund here while ending their six-year long trophy-drought too.
Add us as a preferred source on Google