Borussia Dortmund vs Marseille preview - Klopp regretting touchline ban

Posted Tuesday, October 01, 2013 by PA

Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp admits he will never forgive himself for the furious touchline outburst which led to him being banned for Tuesday's Champions League clash with Marseille.

The hosts will be without their flamboyant coach, who was sent off in his side's 2-1 Group F defeat to Napoli a fortnight ago following an angry confrontation with the fourth official.

As soon as he arrives at the Westfalenstadion, he will have to leave his team in the trusted hands of his assistant Zeljko Buvac.

"It really wasn't on," Klopp said as he recalled his moment of madness in Naples. "I won't even forgive myself for that, and it's not something you can just forget about so easily.

"You've got to be punished for things like that, and that's totally fine. I'll follow it from high up and will at least get something out of the game, being a good view.

"Missing one game on the sidelines is not a major thing. If they'd removed me from the training ground for a week before, then that would have been worse to be honest."

Klopp is "not proud" of his reaction in Naples, but admits it is going to be difficult to calm his passionate demeanour.

"When you see photos of me celebrating certain moments or goals, then there's nothing aggressive or anything like that, it's just my way of releasing pressure," he told Germany's Sky television.

"And that image is not all that different to the one in Naples. I'm not proud of it, but in a certain way, there's not much that can be done about it, my face.

"I overstepped the mark in Naples. I failed to recognise where to stop. I've given it all a lot of thought, but I can't change myself. I just have to see where to stop in such moments.

"The fourth official is there to be confronted, and I don't mean to be attacked or anything like that, but to be spoken to. It's bound to happen again and it's no problem."

Being without Klopp will be no problem for his team either, according to Robert Lewandowski, who said he does not pay much attention to his coach on the touchline anyway.

"We'll just play the way we always do and we know what we have to do," said the Polish striker.

"I don't really take much notice of what's happening on the touchline anyway."

Dortmund, who did not lose a single match until the semi-final stage on their way to the final last season, now have to bounce back from that early loss.

Opponents Marseille will also be looking to get their campaign up and running after an opening-game defeat.

The Ligue 1 side went down 2-1 at home to Arsenal at the Stade Velodrome.

And goalkeeper Steve Mandanda knows his side are in for a tough test against a team who won 5-0 against Freiburg at the weekend.

"As soon as the draw was made we knew it would be hard. It will be even more so now after their five goals on Saturday," he told a press conference.

"We are competitors, so we want to win."

And the visitors have fond memories of Dortmund. The last time they arrived in Westphalia, the chances of them reaching the knockout stages appeared in tatters.

Trailing 2-0 to a side who could no longer finish inside the top two in 2011, a remarkable recovery saw them win 3-2 to go through.