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Royal cojones required

01.04.2014, 23:06 Uhr von: Redaktion

Tomorrow evening at 8.45 pm, Borussia Dortmund will face the likely best club football team Real Madrid in the 1st heat of the Champions League Quarterfinal 2014. Against a superstar-filled squad like this, there is not much hope around and the odds are clearly against us. Looking back to the last season however, there is not really a reason to hide and especially, there is nothing to lose.

How is the setting?

With a total of 9:2 goals, Real Madrid impressively kicked Schalk*e 04 out of the knock-out phase. The Madrilenians are currently ranked on the 3rd place behind Barcelona and Atletico. With their superstars Christiano Ronald (acting player of the year) and Gareth Bale, our Borussia will face one of the favourites for the Spanish championship and the champions league win. Especially these two extremely fast wing players know how to disassemble a defense line on their own, not mentioning players such as di Maria, Alonso, Modric, Benzema, Özil etc. etc. completing this royal squad. Individually, the Spanish are clearly in advance. Football however is still won and lost as a team, and this will be the crucial key for going to the next round.

What do we have?

On our side, the worry lines of Juergen Klopp have not lessen the last days. Beside the long time injured Kuba, Neven, Ilkay and Sven, also Marcel and Robert are more than questionable for fielding tomorrow. In regard of this utterly ugly long list of injured players, Borussia plays an extraordinary season. The young players like Durm, Durksch or Hofmann used their chance and did their very best to replace their teammates. A second place in the league and among the top 8 clubs of Europe is nothing to hide behind. Therefore, an elimination in the quarterfinal would not signify the end of the world. But to be honest, there is no reason to be so pessimistic. Taking a look at the recent matches, Borussia could always improve the performance when it comes to deciding matches. In addition, we have beaten Real last year. There is meanwhile enough experience and there should be quite enough confidence to put up resistance against these royals. We have a close-knit team which is able to show a dominating performance when it is crucial. And tomorrow might be one of these nights...

What do we need?

We all know that our Westfalenstadium can be the key factor to defeat every single squad. No matter if it is packed with superstars or not. Regarding the fact that we play away first, a draw on foreign ground would form a good postition for the re-match on the 8th of April. A concentrated, focused and unified performance will be essential to hold ground in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. From a slight defensive attitude, we will have our chances that have to be used quite more efficiently than in the last games. Teams like Madrid wont offer you many possibilites to score, but they are not invulnerable. With the confidence from last year and a squad which is "no worse than last year" (Jürgen Klopp), the chance for proceeding into the next round is still real. All we have to do is to get it together, prove cojones and show this bunch of superstars that we are not just walk-in customers like our blue neighbours. Heja BVB