"I can feel the anticipation too," admitted the Werkself head coach ahead of the clash with his former club. And this time there will hopefully be a better result than in last season's appearance of Bayer 04 at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund: The Black and Reds were unfortunate to lose 3-2 given a significantly higher amount of possession and a greater number of chances. "We played well but BVB ended up winning. And in football it's all about winning," the Dutchman declared. Now, after three defeats in succession against the Black and Yellows, it's finally time for a win at the 04th attempt.
The Werkself head coach refuses to be influenced by any talk of possible disruption for Dortmund after their recent defeat in the league away to newly promoted Union Berlin (1-3). Instead, Bosz wants to focus his attention on his own team: "It's not so important to me that BVB could be under more pressure. I always focus on my own team – the line-up, how we train or how we want to play against the opposition. Anything else doesn't interest me."
Peter Bosz has almost his full squad to choose from. On Friday afternoon, he still did not know how his players who were on international duty coped with the rigours of travel in yesterday's training session. "I'll decide later about who is available after the final training session," said Bosz who will probably only be without Joel Pohjanpalo (training deficit) against BVB. Today's birthday boy has just returned to full training this week after a persistent ankle injury. Sven Bender, who suffered a shoulder injury in training on Tuesday, also trained yesterday and should be available for tomorrow's game according to Bosz.
Tomorrow's game in Dortmund brings together the two teams who have had the most possession so far this season. While the Werkself are up to 72%, BVB have 75%. Bosz refused to venture an opinion on how open tomorrow's game could be: "We always want to play our own game both home and away."
Match information
Stadium: Signal Iduna Park (81,365 capacity)
Previous results: 2-4 (H), 2-3 (A)
Weather forecast: 21 degrees, predominantly sunny
Referee: Daniel Siebert (Berlin)
Live TV broadcaster: Sky Sport
Bosnia U19 international Kerim Alajbegovic is moving from Bayer 04 Leverkusen's youth set-up to Red Bull Salzburg. The talented attacking midfielder has signed a long-term contract with the Austrian club. At the same time, the works club secured a buy-back option for the 17-year-old, who was one of the mainstays of the Leverkusen U19s.
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