After the 3-2 friendly win in Oberhausen, BVB coach Edin Terzic spoke about the match, what the team are working on in training and the upcoming tour of the USA.

Edin Terzic on the friendly win:
”It’s good to win games. But looking at the way the match went today, there were a few things that malfunctioned. It was clear that we still have a few things to work on. We had to defend a lot of counter-attacks and dangerous set-pieces. It’s extremely important that we find our rhythm again quickly. There were a few things that left us unhappy, we’ll have to make big improvements in these areas.” 

…the return of the international players:
”They started with some performance diagnostics and have been out on the training ground with us since Monday. Today we put them through a really intense programme again. We’re slowly getting them back up to speed. Tomorrow we’ll decide who’ll be an option for Saturday’s game in Erfurt.”

…Youssoufa Moukoko, Karim Adeyemi and Felix Nmecha:
”Youssoufa and Karim have been back in team training since Monday and have been able to take part in the entire programme. Felix has been with us for two weeks now and participated in parts of training over the past week. Now he’s done his first full sessions. The prospects are looking good there, but again we’ll have to wait until tomorrow before we reach a decision.”

…preparation for the USA trip:
“We had a very large training group this week, sometimes with as many as 31 outfield players. Now we have to adapt to each other and get to a similar level, both in terms of workload and regeneration. We will use the days in Germany for that. On Monday, we will start our travels. Of course, there will be slightly different demands due to the flights, the time difference and the climatic conditions. But we will take that in our stride. Next week, on Thursday, we will have our first game in the US. The goal is to have all the players ready to get minutes under their belt. The games in the US will be very important for us in addressing tactical issues.”

…areas that will be worked on:
“It’s not just a matter of practising new things, but also of refreshing the boys’ memory about a lot of things. It’s no secret that we were unhappy with the number of goals we conceded last year. We did a decent job of turning that around in early 2023. But we still want to reduce the number of goals conceded, that’s a target we’ve set ourselves. And we want to develop our game further. Many of our automatisms improved in the second half of the season. Now it’s a matter of integrating the newcomers. Then we want to introduce new patterns bit by bit to be even better, even more proactive and more dangerous in attack and at the same time strengthen our defence.”

…Sebastien Haller:
“Yesterday marked twelve months to the day since we received the news of his illness. He put in excellent work over the summer break. He only started with us on Saturday. We deliberately gave him a few more days off because he had an emotional and exhausting year and no winter break. Everything that he went through was very taxing on his body and his mind. He has now been working very hard, his results in the performance diagnostics were very good. We hope that he can maybe already collect a few minutes on Saturday, that he can quickly hit his stride and play an important role for the team.”

…Mateu Morey:
”We’re still taking extra care with him in training. We’re checking in to make sure that we hit the right balance between regeneration and workload. He’s incredibly hard-working. We hope that he continues to get better day by day.”

…Emre Can:
“We are happy that Emre has come back healthy from the summer break. He has made a very strong impression. He has carved out a really important role for himself. That’s what we envisioned when we signed him. During the second half of the season he became more and more important, both on the pitch and in the dressing room.”
Transcribed by Christina Reinke