Borussia Dortmund is happy about many returnees ahead of the semi-final first leg in the Champions League against Paris St. Germain. With them, BVB wants to pave the way to the Wembley final at home on Wednesday.
Whichever team Edin Terzic sends onto the field against the star ensemble from Paris on Wednesday (9 p.m.), he will probably no longer have three central defenders. After the unsuccessful start to the Champions League season, this experiment has probably moved to the back of the tactical options folder. With their very defensive orientation, BVB lost 2-0 in Paris in September.
Mbappé is not the only top striker in the PSG offensive
If fear is not a good guide, then too much fear is certainly not, and three central defenders signal to the opponent that you are prepared for an attack. A team like PSG, in which every striker in the squad has a double-digit number of goal involvements, could even “misinterpret” this as an invitation.
Bundesliga and Champions League: BVB moves between the worlds arrow right
It will be two close games. The good thing about close games is that you can win them.
A striker like Kylian Mbappé, who has 43 goals and ten assists after 44 games this season, naturally doesn’t wait for invitations. But after the 25-year-old scored from a penalty in the first leg of the group stage in defiance of Dortmund’s wall tactics, he came away empty-handed in the 1-1 draw in the second leg. So it’s also possible with two central defenders – at least if they are as agile as Niklas Süle, who artistically prevented Mbappé from scoring in Dortmund with a tackle with his leg stretched up.
Borussia Dortmund – Paris St. Germain, Wednesday from 9 p.m. arrow right Champions League: semi-final overview arrow right
Own possession of the ball and “short distances” in front of the goal
Terzic believes that focusing on Mbappé with special guard is pointless anyway because he is too fast and the French offensive with players like Ousmane Dembélé and Gonçalo Ramos is too strong overall: “They have incredible quality.” The focus of his team must therefore be on the ball, said Terzic. If you have it, the opponent can’t score goals. If you don’t have it, “short distances” in front of your own goal are crucial in order to be able to support each other.
If possible, you have to double it. It will be difficult against him alone.
Emre Can about top striker Kylian Mbappé
However, Dortmund don’t want to spend too much time with Mbappé in their own half. “The clear goal is for us to gain a small lead,” said Terzic on Tuesday. To do this you have to move the game to the French half. Against this background, Terzic will be happy that the offensive players Donyell Malen and Sebastien Haller have completed part of the training again and are probably available.
Sabitzer, Can and Maatsen join the BVB squad
This also applies to Marcel Sabitzer, who was absent from the 4-1 defeat in Leipzig last weekend due to illness. Emre Can and Ian Maatsen also join the squad after serving bans.
If we run at them high and get our pace into the game, we will have our chances.
The conditions for securing your first win in the third duel of the season with Paris could be worse. Nevertheless, Terzic knows that the challenge is a particularly big one: “We know that we have to perform at least 180 minutes at the highest level in order to make the dream come true.” His team now has to “top the performance from the second leg against Paris in the group phase, where victory was already within reach”.