Germany international Kevin Grosskreutz insists Borussia Dortmund can bounce back from their Bundesliga nightmare — starting with today’s clash at league leaders Bayern Munich.
“We will show again what we can do and we want to start in Munich,” Grosskreutz said.
Bayern host Dortmund with the teams having shared the past four league titles between them, but Borussia have been rocked by four straight league defeats — their worst sequence of Bundesliga results in 15 years.
Just two wins in their opening nine league games leaves last season’s runners-up languishing in 15th place in the table, a staggering 14 points behind league leaders Bayern, but Dortmund have won three of their past four league matches at Bayern and Munich captain Philipp Lahm insists Jurgen Klopp’s side are still a “threat.”
To up the ante, Dortmund will have the worst start to a Bundesliga season in the club’s history confirmed by a fifth consecutive defeat today.
Bayern hope to include Dutch winger Arjen Robben after he missed the past two matches with a leg injury, while Dortmund are set to name Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa, who has a 100 percent record in his four matches against Munich.
Dortmund-Bayern clashes have been dubbed Germany’s Klassiker in recent years, but Borussia coach Klopp is currently in the biggest crisis of his six-year reign.
He has refused to make any bold declarations ahead of the Munich clash, even though Dortmund trounced last season’s champions 3-0 on their last visit to the Bavarian capital in April, when Pep Guardiola’s side had already won the title.
“We’re not entitled to anything at the moment, but we will try everything,” Klopp said.
There is bad blood between Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Dortmund, with the Bavarian giants reported to be interested in signing Dortmund’s Germany winger Marco Reus.
Bayern have signed both World Cup winner Mario Goetze and Poland striker Robert Lewandowski from Dortmund in the past two seasons, and Rummenigge has said he is fully aware Reus has a release clause in his contract.
“He could have just said nothing, but that is not his personal style, and so he just goes on and on,” Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said.
Borussia Moenchengladbach, in second, host TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, who are fourth, tomorrow in a meeting between two of the league’s three remaining unbeaten teams.
’Gladbach can match their 17-game unbeaten record from 1970-1971 by avoiding defeat, while Hoffenheim are reaping the reward for rebuilding their squad over the summer and are proving to be a hard team to break down.
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
France head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday lauded his team’s attacking performance after their dazzling 36-14 victory over Ireland in their Six Nations opener. A brace of tries from Louis Bielley-Biarrey and one from mercurial flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert helped France storm into a 29-0 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing Ireland back into the match, before winger Theo Attissogbe put some gloss on the victory late on. “In an attacking sense, with the ball, the team played with great accuracy,” Galthie said. “It was one of the most accurate attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather
RSS