Dortmund vs. Augsburg preview: The chase is back on for BVB
The Signal Iduna Park is alive once again in the Bundesliga as relegation-tested Augsburg come to town looking to pull off another shock upset against a major side.
| Photo: Borussia Dortmund/OneFootball |
Borussia Dortmund
At 7th in the table following Saturday’s results, it’s safe to say that Dortmund have had quite an underwhelming start to the campaign. BVB caught a major case of the injury bug at the end of 2022 and are now feeling somewhat healthy for what feels like the first time all season.
It’s been an uplifting last few weeks for the black and yellow as Sebastien Haller is incredibly back in the team following his cancer diagnosis over the summer. Youssoufa Moukoko also signed a contract extension this weekend to finally put an end to any lingering rumors of a potential transfer.
However, Marco Reus is doubtful for the contest because he’s still dealing with an illness. BVB can no longer afford to throw away points at this stage of the season as they renew their chase after Bayern and the Champions League places.
In his press conference, Edin Terzic shared, “(Augsburg) brought in a few players in the winter, they are very aggressive and always play close. The performances against strong teams have always been good – we have to be cautious. They play intensively in one-on-one all over the field."
Team News
Mateu Morey and Thomas Meunier are ruled out for Sunday’s match, while Reus is doubtful with an illness. Haller will be available as a squad selection and is likely to see some game action.
The same goes for new Union Berlin signing Julian Ryerson who could start immediately at right-back.
Augsburg
Augsburg were busy in the winter window by adding several attackers following the move of Florian Niederlechner to Hertha BSC. Dion Beljo is the most notable of those transfers as the 20-year-old Croatian was signed for €3 million and is set to start right away.
They’ve really struggled to score goals thus far and have only put away 18 chances for the 3rd-worst offensive tally in the league. Luckily, Rafał Gikiewicz still sits between the sticks giving Augsburg some hope that they can put together another superb performance against a top-half team.
Former Dortmund II trainer Enrico Maaßen stated, “For me it's a special game against my former club, but my focus is fully on the 90 minutes. We want to play well there and take points to Augsburg.”
Team News
Andre Hahn, Tobias Strobl, Reece Oxford and Iago are all out for Augsburg. Mergim Berisha will be unavailable as he serves a red-card suspension.
