“We’re up for the challenge”

VfB Stuttgart’s focus is now back on the Bundesliga following the team’s midweek trip to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League. The boys from Cannstatt were raring to go as they began their preparations for the home game against Borussia Dortmund on Sunday (kick-off 17:30 CEST).

“You don’t often get to play both UEFA Champions League finalists one after the other. We want to put in a good performance against Dortmund. They’re a good team who really strengthened over the summer. We’re up for the challenge” said head coach Sebastian Hoeneß.

Recovery and workload management

Dortmund recruited heavily over the summer, including signing defender Waldemar Anton and striker Serhou Guirassy from VfB, while Nuri Sahin has taken over from Edin Terzic as head coach. “You can tell that he’s given the team a couple of new ideas,” said Hoeneß.

Nevertheless, the VfB boss is keen to focus on his own team: “Preparations are in full swing. We gave the team yesterday off, then we trained today. The lads look good and fresh. On Sunday we’ve got a great match coming up against BVB, and that’s the only thing that we’re focusing on.”

Nartey and Al Dakhil back in training

In terms of personnel, there are only a couple of changes for VfB this week: “Justin Diehl (dislocated shoulder), Leonidas Stergiou, Niko Nartey and Ameen AlDakhilare all unavailable for the BVB match.”