Borussia Dortmund Haberleri

Boris Rupert reporting from Sinsheim

Julian Brandt: “It wasn’t an easy game. We rode our luck. There were a lot of chances on both sides. Greg made some super saves. We’ll very happily take the points. We’ve often lost games like this in the past – we’ve progressed in that sense. This is a strong position right now. However, we need to keep going, because we could quickly ruin it for ourselves. All in all, lots of things are working out at the moment: we’re efficient and getting a slice of luck. Many of the lads are in good form. We have an extremely strong bench and are bringing on lads who are scoring important goals. The success is the result of everything. We’ll take the momentum and try to keep riding the wave. However, we must keep our feet on the ground and remind ourselves that it’s still only February. There’s a long road with hard work ahead of us.”

Goalscoring chances galore: In total, this lively encounter produced 36 shots at goal (23-13 in BVB’s favour) and 23 corners (12-11 to TSG). The last time the latter tally was reached in the Bundesliga was in November 2009, when there were 24 corners in a game between Wolfsburg and Nuremberg.

Emre Can (to BVB-TV): “It was a decent performance from us in the first half, we could’ve scored more than one goal; in the second, we were there for each other as we have been in the past few weeks too. There was a bit of luck involved too, but Hoffenheim were also lucky, especially in the first half. We have a world-class goalkeeper; we won fortuitously but also deservedly. It feels good to be at the top – but we know: this is only a momentary snapshot.”

Edin Terzic: “It was the hard-fought and close game we expected. From the 25th minute on, we produced a really good away performance up until the break and could have led by more. It was more open in the second half. There were then a few close calls for us, but we also had lots of chances. Overall, I see it as a deserved victory against a strong team.”

Travel

“We’re completing factoring out the Youth League. Our focus is on the game against Cologne,” assured coach Mike Tullberg, citing last week as an example: “We fully committed ourselves to facing RW Oberhausen and that’s exactly what we’ll do about 1. FC Cologne. PSG are not on our minds, we have to do our homework.”

Stadion Niederrhein will be the third venue at which the U23s have played a home game this season, after SIGNAL IDUNA PARK and Stadion am Zoo in Wuppertal. Until their return to the Rote Erde Stadion, which is still undergoing renovation, the Black & Yellows will have to play elsewhere – with Oberhausen the next destination. Ingo Preuß, the team’s sporting director, sees no reason to complain: “I’m glad that we have found a decent venue. The situation is not ideal for anyone, but we can’t change it. Now we’ll play there and see what comes of it.”

For the first time in decades, Europe has since been the scene of a war between sovereign states – even today, Russia’s onslaught continues with increasing ferocity and destruction. According to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), more than 13 million Ukrainians have left their country since the outbreak of war, over six million of them have fled to neighbouring European countries. The images from Ukraine and the huge suffering of the civilian population continue to affect us all.

The match, which was originally supposed to take place on 9 February, was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.