Füllkrug reveals details of penalty discussion with Sancho, Terzic credits Bender for corner variation
In his post-match interview with Sky Germany following Saturday's 4-0 blanking of Köln, BVB striker Niclas Füllkrug revealed that he and Jadon Sancho had a brief conversation over who would take a crucial 58th minute penalty.
Another bit of relevant Dortmund news came out in BVB trainer Edin Terzic's post-match presser. Terzic credited new assistant Sven Bender with helping the team drill the corner variation that allowed Donyell Malen to open the scoring in the 12th.
Sitting on a slender 1-0 lead as the hour-mark approached in Köln on Saturday, visiting Borussia Dortmund were suddenly gifted a chance to double their advantage against an offensively anemic 1. FC Köln side unlikely to be able to orchestrate a comeback. Recent BVB returnee Jadon Sancho drew a penalty in the 56th minute when Köln fullback Rasmus Carstensen fouled him in the box.
Another bit of relevant Dortmund news came out in BVB trainer Edin Terzic's post-match presser. Terzic credited new assistant Sven Bender with helping the team drill the corner variation that allowed Donyell Malen to open the scoring in the 12th.
German broadcast cameras caught Sancho and BVB striker Niclas Füllkrug engaging in a brief conversation over who would take the spot kick. Asked about the scene during his post-match interview with Sky Germany afterwards, Füllkrug confirmed that Sancho had asked to take the penalty himself. If Füllkrug is to be believed, however, there was no great disagreement over the decision.
"He simply asked if it was okay if he took it," Füllkrug told his interviewer afterward, "I told him, 'No, that's okay. I'll do it today'. He immediately agreed and said 'Sure. Hit it in Fülle'. He pushed me, which was good. He wanted to score his first goal back with BVB. He'll do that next week."
Füllkrug noted that the team had a system in place for who will take penalties. Interestingly enough, Edin Terzic spoke of another system when discussing the corner variation that allowed Donyell Malen to open the scoring in the 12th. Even if, Terzic stressed, the set-piece design was neither "new" nor "rocket science", the BVB trainer credited one of his new assistant coaches with the idea of bringing it to the front of the playbook.
"It was a joint idea of the coaching team," Terzic said, "[Sven Bender] is leading the way in quite a few areas these days. It was well rehearsed."