Marco Rose on his return to Dortmund and a possible start for Nkunku

Afterthe 2-1 win at home against Eintracht Frankfurt, RBL have another key game ahead of them.

RBL travel to the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund (20:30 CET kick-off) on Friday evening to begin matchday 23 in the Bundesliga.

Head coach Marco Rose spoke to the media ahead of this meeting between the Bundesliga’s second (BVB) and fourth-placed (RBL) sides, talking about his return to Dortmund, a possible first start after injury for Christopher Nkunku and summer new signing Nicolas Seiwald.

Squad News

Lukas Klostermann, Emil Forsberg and Josko Gvardiol are back in team training and ready for the away game against Borussia Dortmund.
Konrad Laimer picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in the 2-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt so will be suspended for the game in Dortmund.
Dani Olmo (muscle fibre tear) will be integrated back into team training this coming week.
Read more in latest team news.

Latest team news

Marco Rose on…

… team news

We’re in a good position. We have hardly any players out injured. So, all the boys who were out injured recently are back fit. Klosti is back, everything is good with Emil. Christo has a very good week of training behind him.”
“At some point it will be the day that we want to have Christo’s quality on the pitch from the start again.
He was subbed on in the last game, we have integrated him well. Obviously, Christo playing from the start is now an option once again.”

… Borussia Dortmund

“We need to put in a top performance tomorrow, in this stadium, with these fans. We will need to play courageously and will have to work hard off the ball to deal with the power and force that Dortmund have going forward.”
“They’ve put a great run together and the results will give them self-confidence. They’ve made a range of good signings that are now settling in at BVB bit by bit and have put in strong performances.
Niklas Süle and Nico Schlotterbeck in the centre of defence play at a high level, while in the shape of Julian Ryerson they have strengthened at full-back once again in the winter. They also have unbelievable quality in attack with players like Marco Reus or Julian Brandt.”
“We also want to go forward ourselves and pose Borussia problems. We have to keep their ‘keeper Gregor Kobel, who is in irresistible form and has already won a number of points for them this season, busy and not give him shots that are easy to save.
That’s the key thing against a top team carrying moment, but we will work to change that momentum. After all, we’re on a good run of form ourselves.”

… his return to Dortmund

“I’m looking forward to seeing lots of people there, I made a few phone calls during the week. Even if I was only there for a year, I made a lot of friends in Dortmund.
I’m looking forward to seeing the players and staff again. It is nice for me to come back to Dortmund again.
But obviously, I am travelling there tomorrow to pick up a win. We know that it will be a difficult task, but we are ready.”

But we will work to change that momentum
Marco Rose on Dortmund’s winning streak

Marco Rose on …

… Edin Terzic

“He is a Dortmund lad. You can feel how strongly tied he is tothe city and the club. Edin is a great guy. Working with him was really good. I am looking forward a lot to seeing him tomorrow.
It is important that he leads the club with a certain sense of calm. He has kept his calm and now has the results to back him up. He is doing a very good job.”.”

.… Konni Laimer’s suspension

“We obviously could have done with having Konni tomorrow. But I also think that we are still in a good position without him.
Doudou and Kevko have been slightly behind him recently, but are still doing really well and give their all in every training session and with every appearance.
I am pleased that we can rely on so many of the boys and am convinced that we will have a good team on the pitch tomorrow. The competition for places in the team is good for us.”

… new signing Nicolas Seiwald

“I am pleased to have signed a really good young Austria international, who I have also known about for a long time. Nici played in the U12s in Salzburg under Alexander Zickler, who is now my assistant coach.
He has developed excellently. It was not always clear that he would take this path. Nici worked hard on himself with a lot of discipline and strong mentality. Nicolas is a very good footballer, has good anticipation and aggression. In possession, he understands space really well and is tactically good on the ball.
He is just a good lad who has made the conscious decision to play for us. He still has some work to do in Salzburg up until the summer. We are looking forward to being able to welcome him here ahead of the new season.”

Nicolas is a very good footballer, has good anticipation and aggression.
Marco Rose on new signing Nicolas Seiwald

Marco Rose on …

… Marcel Halstenberg:

“Halste is a great guy. He is an exceptional footballer in a lot of areas. He understands the game. He knows when he needs to do something.
Halste is technically very tidy, can defend and can put in good crosses. I am very grateful about the squad situation and the fact that with David Raum and Halste we have two players that are fighting for places.
David was injured and has had small problems recently, otherwise he would have already played again. We will see how it looks tomorrow. They are both neck-and-neck.”