"The enjoyment factor will be very important!"
RB Leipzig travel to Borussia Dortmund on Saturday evening | Official press conference with head coach Domenico Tedesco | Current team news ahead of top clash
Back to the Bundesliga. The start of MEGApril! RB Leipzig take on Borussia Dortmund at the Signal Idunal Park on Saturday evening (kick off: 18:30 CEST) as they kick off a huge month of football. After a two-week long international break, head coach Domenico Tedesco spoke to the media ahead of matchday 28.
Domenico Tedesco on ...
... April:
"I haven’t had the time yet to look back and review my first 100 days as head coach of RB Leipzig. But I can tell you how it’s felt, and it’s felt really good. It’s fun to be able to work here. We have good conditions, good staff and a good team. Everything is positive, but we haven’t achieved anything yet.
I’m really looking forward to April, there’s a bit of work in store for us. The enjoyment factor will play a really important role given the number of tough games we’ve got ahead of us. We have to go into everything with a lot of enjoyment and desire, starting with Saturday evening’s game against Borussia Dortmund.
Getting into a good flow with help us massively – and we are right now, when you take the results of the past nine games into consideration. Therefore, we have to take every game as they come and look at each one independently of the rest.
We’ve used the international break and worked well with the smaller group. I can feel that the players are really up for this month."
... Erling Haaland:
"Borussia Dortmund aren’t just Erling Haaland. I can think of six or seven Dortmund attackers who will cause us some problems, and none of them are called Haaland.
Even if Marco Rose says he’s questionable for the game, we’re preparing for the case that he’ll play. It’s a very important fixture and I’m sure that BVB will do everything they can to make sure he’s fit and able to play.
It will be important that we defend against him collectively as a team. His strengths are well-known: he’s fast and extremely dangerous on the counter attack. We have to be well positioned, run and press well and can’t allow Erling too much space.
But like I said, other Dortmund players are also coming back into form."
... The yellow wall:
"We’re really looking forward to a sold-out Signal Iduna Park. It’s simply great there. Every footballer loves to play against the yellow wall.
We’ve had to do without spectators for a long time. Of course a home game with over 81,000 fans will have a positive effect on BVB.
But it can also influence the away team positively as well. We’re going to Dortmund to win the game – there’s no doubt about that. At the end of the day, we want to achieve our goals across all three competitions."
We have to go into April with a lot of enjoyment and desire, starting with Saturday evening’s game against Borussia Dortmund!
... Dominik Szoboszlai:
"A decision is never made against one player, but rather always for one player. Domi is doing well, but there is a lot of competition in his position. He isn’t disappointing anyone; he trains hard and is really close. He’s a fighter. He’s younger than his competition who are a few points ahead in some areas, but that’s normal. He is a good and important player for us and will definitely get his minutes."
... Returning international players:
"I don’t get the feeling that the international players are tired. The workload on the international scene hasn’t had a negative impact on Christopher Nkunku, for example. He was called up to the France team for the first time and therefore returns to Leipzig with additional self-confidence. International games like that are a boost. Of course, some players were more successful and others less so. But overall, they’ve done well."
+++ Team news +++
- Péter Gulácsi trained individually after his adductor injury. He will return to team training on Friday and will be available for the game against BVB.
- Lukas Klostermann returned to training with the team this week after an adductor problem.
- Yussuf Poulsen (adductor) will not be available for Saturday’s game.
- Amadou Haidara suffered an MCL injury in Mali’s game against Tunisia and will be out for the upcoming games.