Berlin: Borussia Dortmund and their under-fire coach Lucien Favre hope to maintain the ‘feel-good’ factor from back-to-back wins as they chase Champions League revenge at home to Inter Milan on Tuesday.
A below-par performance saw Dortmund crash to a 2-0 defeat in Milan nearly a fortnight ago, sparking reports Jose Mourinho was waiting in the wings to replace Favre unless results improved, which the club subsequently denied.
The German media piled into Favre after forward Lautaro Martinez give Inter a first-half lead, then had a late penalty saved, before winger Antonio Candreva raced clear to seal Dortmund’s defeat at the San Siro.
Dortmund were short of ideas against a water-tight defence and only Roman Burki’s fine save from Martinez’s penalty attempt prevented a rout. However, Dortmund have since improved.
A goalless draw at Schalke last weekend was backed-up by dumping Bundesliga leaders Borussia Moenchengladbach out of the German Cup in midweek before trouncing Wolfsburg 3-0 on Saturday in the league. With one eye on Inter, Favre said it was “nice to see” his side has broken their habit of conceding late goals amidst nervous defending.
“In the end, there was almost an element of joy back in our game again,” enthused sports director Michael Zorc. Now Favre needs a win over Antonio Conte’s Inter to get Dortmund’s Group F campaign back on track and maintain confidence with a crunch Bundesliga tie at Bayern Munich looming on Saturday. Both Inter and Dortmund come into Tuesday’s tie level on four points from three games, each with a win, a defeat and draw. Dortmund must repeat the rock-solid defending in their goalless draw at home to Barcelona in September to contain Inter’s attack and Saturday’s win over Wolfsburg suggests confidence is high. “We played at a higher tempo, were better between the lines.” Insisted Favre. (AFP)
