Borussia Dortmund’s heavy-metal-loving coach Jurgen Klopp has said he wants his team to make another loud statement in today’s UEFA Champions League match at home to Arsenal.
Dortmund pulled off an impressive 2-1 win over the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium in London two weeks ago with Poland striker Robert Lewandowski netting the late winner.
Klopp’s side are now looking to complete the double over Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal at Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park, but the Borussia boss is full of praise for his opposite number.
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“For me, he is ‘Sir’ Arsene Wenger, I love him,” enthused Klopp in an interview with the English media. “When you look at Arsenal over the last 10 years, they have always played almost perfect football, but we all know Arsenal haven’t won a title for a long time [the 2005 FA Cup].”
“Arsenal have a philosophy from Arsene Wenger, I love that, but I can’t coach that way, I am different,” Klopp said. “He likes to have the ball and play football, passing the ball around. It’s like an orchestra, but they play a silent song. I like heavy metal, I always want it to be loud.”
Dortmund have certainly made plenty of noise in Group F, bouncing back from their shock 2-1 defeat at SSC Napoli with a 3-0 trouncing of Olympique de Marseille at home, before beating Arsenal in London.
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It means there is all to play for with Arsenal, Dortmund and Napoli all tied on six points, with the Gunners top of the table only on goal-difference.
Lewandowski, who became the first player to score four goals in a Champions League semi-final last season, warmed up for the Gunners with four goals in the 6-1 league rout of VfB Stuttgart on Friday last week.
Dortmund hope to have captain Sebastian Kehl back in the squad after a six-week injury break due to an ankle injury, but Germany winger Marco Reus insists the hosts can not expect another rout.
“It will of course be enormously difficult. We can’t expect as many chances as we had against Stuttgart,” Reus said.
Arsenal warmed up for the trip to Germany with an impressive 2-0 home victory over Liverpool to leave them five points clear at the top of the English Premier League.
“It was important to convince people we can win these big games,” Wenger said of the Liverpool success. “Let’s enjoy it, take a lot of encouragement from it and continue to develop as a team, but we must be cautious as well and be on our toes. We have plenty of other big games coming up and this will help us to deal with them.”
Defender Kieran Gibbs is doubtful for the Gunners after limping off in the second half against Liverpool with a calf problem and Jack Wilshere’s absence with a rolled ankle in training could see Tomas Rosicky face his former club.
The 33-year-old Czech playmaker signed from Dortmund in May 2006 and who has been hampered by several injury setbacks, feels the Gunners can be confident of building on their positive start.
Rosicky made 126 league appearances for the Bundesliga side during five seasons in Germany after signing from Sparta Prague and is looking forward to a return to Dortmund.
“I won the league there and played in the UEFA Cup final there, so obviously I have a lot of attachments and it will be a special game for me,” Rosicky said.
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