Borussia Dortmund manager Niko Kovac is wary of one Stuttgart player ahead of their clash at the MHP Arena on Saturday.
The Croatian lavished praise on in-form striker Deniz Undav for his offensive qualities, particularly his hat-trick against Dortmund in their earlier league meeting.
Back in November 2025, Undav netted thrice in the second half, including a stoppage-time equalizer to make it 3-3 and rescue a point for Die Roten.
Dortmund had led 2-0 in the opening stanza and were comfortably heading towards a win, but Undav took the talismanic mantle upon himself and went hell for leather at the Signal Iduna Park.
He scored twice to bring Stuttgart level and just minutes after Karim Adeyemi appeared to had netted a late winner for Dortmund, Undav come back to haunt them with a third goal in the 91st minute.
That sensational individual performance is still fresh in Kovac's memory, who hoped not to see a repeat of that again this weekend from the German international:
"“We can recall the reverse fixture, where he scored three goals. So we’re well aware of his qualities. And we don’t want to see those this weekend.""said Kovac
Interestingly, Undav comes into the clash on the back of a six-game scoring run in the Bundesliga as he's going to pose the single biggest threat coming from the hosts once again.
However Dortmund's manager doesn't single out the striker alone, appearing wary of Stuttgart's consistency while demanding his side to play to their best.
"“They are a team to be taken very seriously, one that has gelled well over the last few years. They have been able to build on their success consistently, and that is no coincidence. For us, that means we really have to give it our all.”"added Kovac
Stuttgart too are competing for Champions League football as they currently occupy third place on the Bundesliga table with 53 points from 27 games.
More importantly, they have gone their last seven encounters with Borussia Dortmund unbeaten, winning five as the Reds have been able to turn their fortunes around in the fixture.
Their run came agonizingly close to ending in their first league meeting of the season when Dortmund led Stuttgart twice, only to throw it away each time.
While the BVB have won their last three top-flight matches in a row, Stuttgart are unbeaten in their last six while winning their most recent two.