Kovac ahead of HSV: “Three points are essential!”

BVB have come through an intensive and demanding pre-season. Head coach Niko Kovac has only been able to train with a full squad for a few weeks, as players such as Gregor Kobel, Julian Ryerson, Ramy Bensebaini and Marcel Sabitzer only returned later from their World Cup break. In the last two friendlies against Arsenal (3:2) and Roma (2:2), Borussia Dortmund showed promising signs in all areas of the team and gave a glimpse of their great potential. That was also evident in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup against Bayern Munich, even though they lost the clash with the double winners 2:1.

Kovac is determined to continue on this path with his team in the Bundesliga: “We had a very good team last season, and once again we have a good team with a lot of talent. I do believe the team has the quality to achieve our goals. At the moment, we are still finding ourselves a little and don’t yet know exactly where we stand,” said the 54-year-old, who summed up the final phase of pre-season with the games against Arsenal, Roma and Munich as “good overall.”

On Saturday, two long-term absentees, Nico Schlotterbeck (ankle) and Emre Can (knee), will still not be available. Ramy Bensebaini was struggling for several days after suffering bruised ribs in the Supercup match and has recently only been able to train individually. However, Niko Kovac did not want to rule out the defender’s involvement and kept his options open on that front: “We’ll see tomorrow how things develop for the weekend. If Ramy isn’t available, we’ll find a good solution,” said the Dortmund coach on Thursday. More here: This is what the squad situation looks like ahead of the Bundesliga opener.

Overall, Kovac is keen to stress that he is satisfied with the squad situation so close to the first Bundesliga match: “We have a good squad, with every position covered twice, in some cases even three times. Everyone also has to face this competitive situation. That’s a good thing too — competition drives the business. If you have no competition, you get too comfortable.” Kosta Karetsas, Giannis Konstantelias, Joane Gadou and Joey Veerman — four new signings in total — could all be in line for their Bundesliga debuts, having already made their first competitive appearances for BVB in the Supercup against Bayern Munich.

After staying up as a newly promoted side in 2025/26, HSV have once again undergone major changes. High-profile names such as Luka Vuskovic, Fabio Vieira, Robert Glatzel and Ransford Königsdörffer have left the club, while Jean-Luc Dompé is also expected to move on and has currently been released from training. As a result, head coach Merlin Polzin has had to reshape the HSV squad. New signings such as striker Patson Daka and midfielder Martin Adeline have already made an impact. Another key figure recently has been Albert Grønbæk, who has now been signed permanently. The Dane scored twice in HSV’s 3:0 cup win away to SC Verl and had already found the net in three friendlies before that. Sebastiaan Bornauw, an experienced Bundesliga centre-back, has also been brought in to add more stability to the defence.

“We’ll certainly come up against a team that will be compact and transition well. They also have quality going forward,” Kovac warned about the visitors from the north. At the same time, he left no doubt about his expectations for the home game against HSV: “We want to apply pressure at home right away and win the game. We want to start the season well, and for that we need three points. Three points are essential!”

For many years, Borussia Dortmund against Hamburger SV was the highest-scoring fixture in Bundesliga history, before HSV spent seven years away from the top flight. During that time, this traditional clash lost that distinction to BVB against VfB Stuttgart. Following HSV’s return to the Bundesliga, the fixture picked up right where it had left off in 2017/18: seven goals were scored across the two meetings in 2025/26. In the first encounter, BVB conceded a late equaliser in stoppage time to make it 1:1 at the Volksparkstadion. At SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, the Black & Yellows turned a 2:0 deficit into a 3:2 win in March this year. Overall, the two clubs have produced 370 goals in 104 Bundesliga meetings, an average of 3.6 per game. This fixture has never ended goalless in Dortmund.Mats-Yannick Roth

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.