Borussia Dortmund vs Bayer Leverkusen preview - Bayer seek to end Dortmund's winning run
Posted Saturday, September 19, 2015 by PA
Roger Schmidt hopes to succeed where eight coaches before him have failed already this season - by beating Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.
Dortmund have won 10 matches in a row this season, including two-leg qualifying matches for the Europa League against Norway's Odd and Austrian side Wolfsberg, but the Bayer Leverkusen coach is quite confident that he can find the key to beating the Westphalians.
His side impressed with a 4-1 win over BATE Borisov in the Champions League on Wednesday while Dortmund triumphed in their Europa League tie with Krasnodar only thanks to a Park Joo-ho goal with the last touch of the game.
In that game, BVB showed cracks which Schmidt is keen to exploit.
"If we can play our transitions the way we did in the Champions League on Wednesday, then we can hurt anybody," Schmidt said at a press conference.
"We've got a lot of self-confidence. Our game against Borisov has given us a lot of belief and each game we win really does the players good.
"Even against a side like Borussia Dortmund, we are capable of creating dangerous situations. We took a step forward in this area on Wednesday."
Dortmund are not Borisov, however, and Schmidt is aware his side will come up against a "very strong team who have qualities in their pressing and transitions" - but with 5,000 fans following his side to the Westfalenstadion, he is nevertheless hoping for a positive result.
Schmidt is also hoping that Lars Bender will be passed fit, although he admits it will be touch and go.
"The hope is there, but we'll have to leave the decision until late," he said. "It's very important for us to have Lars on the field."
Bender picked up a thigh strain in the warm-up on Wednesday and may therefore miss out on a battle against his twin brother Sven.
Thursday's narrow win over Krasnodar was a reality check for Thomas Tuchel's men, and a welcome one at that according to the club's general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke.
He has been somewhat perturbed by the level of euphoria surrounding the club of late.
"Just three months ago, all the talk in the media was of how the Dortmund days were over and that Wolfsburg and Gladbach are the new teams hunting Bayern," he told the WAZ newspaper.
"And now all of sudden things are different again when not much has actually happened.
"Things have changed too quickly for me and it's absurd for this to happen on the basis of just a few Bundesliga games."
A victory on Sunday may force Watzke to alter his view, however, with Dortmund currently matching Bayern stride for stride at the top of the table.
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