SOCCER-GERMANY/DORTMUND-MOENCHENGLADBACH Dortmund and Gladbach prepare for their Bundesliga opener

Record ID: 143974

  • Title: SOCCER-GERMANY/DORTMUND-MOENCHENGLADBACH Dortmund and Gladbach prepare for their Bundesliga opener
  • Date: 14th August 2015
  • Summary: DORTMUND, GERMANY (AUGUST 14, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF SIGNAL IDUNA PARK STADIUM BORUSSIA DORTMUND FLAGS WAVING BORUSSIA DORTMUND COACH THOMAS TUCHEL SITTING DOWN AT NEWS CONFERENCE CAMERAMEN (SOUNDBITE) (German) BORUSSIA DORTMUND, COACH THOMAS TUCHEL, SAYING: "We will need to show our best performance. We will have to be incredibly attentive, very clever, very precise
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA665ZDMZ7O3EGT45Z9C8CTSAAF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel said on Friday (August 14) that his team would need all their strength to have a good kick-off to the new season as he aims to defeat their first opponents, last season's third-placed team, Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday (August 15).
    "We will need to show our best performance. We will have to be incredibly attentive, very clever, very precise and quick if we want to have goal chances. We have to defend carefully and start very early," the 41-year-old coach told reporters in a news conference in Dortmund.
    "We must try to avoid counter-attacks in the early part of the match. It is a very hard task which we are looking for and for which we feel very well prepared for. And it will all come at the right time tomorrow," he added.
    Borussia finished seventh last season and qualified for the Europa League after Wolfsburg, who had already qualified for the Champions League, beat the Westphalians 3-1 in the German Cup Final.
    Last year, Dortmund signed Australia goalkeeper Mitch Langerak to serve as backup for German international Roman Weidenfeller, but Langerak managed to break into the team's regular line-up, playing ten games in the Bundesliga and six in the German Cup, including the final.
    With Langerak moving to Stuttgart in the close season, Tuchel brought in Switzerland keeper Roman Burki from Freiburg and has decided that Burki will replace Weidenfeller as the club's number one goalkeeper.
    "Yesterday I had to give Roman Weidenfeller some bad news, and I don't like to give bad news, sugar coated in good news. We had a very honest chat, a very good chat from my point of view, in which Roman showed what he has shown in the last six weeks, an exceptionally high sporting spirit," he said.
    Moenchengladbach coach Julien Favre was sure Dortmund would not make it easy for them.
    "Dortmund is clearly a good opponent. They will be back this year, I think. Last year they were not so far off, they finished in seventh place, and reached the Europa League. So it was not a bad season at all. And they could do better this season," Favre said after the teams training session on Thursday.
    The team secured qualification to the Champions League for the first time in the club's history after guaranteeing third place in the Bundesliga, but the 57-year-old Swiss said their priority this season would still remain the Bundesliga.
    "It is my job to train these players slowly but surely and make them more confident if they have the quality needed. This is an important season for Gladbach. In this 2015-16 season our priority is clearly the league title, but we also have the Champions League to think about. And we also have to think about the 2017-2018 and the 2018-2019 season," he said.
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