BV Borussia Dortmund 2014/15 European Competitions Thread

The group stage draw is coming up at the end of this week so I figured it's time to start this thread up.

Currently Dortmund is nailed to be in Pot 2 at least for the draw, but in the event that both FC Porto and Arsenal go out in the playoff round this week, Dortmund could springboard into Pot 1 instead albeit very unlikely to happen, especially with both teams picking up good away results last week.

All Dortmund talk pertaining to Europe goes here.

 

No such luck, Porto and Arsenal both ended up going through as expected. Dortmund in Pot 2 this year after being in Pot 3 last year and Pot 4 the two seasons prior to that.

POT 1

Real Madrid (ESP)
FC Barcelona (ESP)
FC Bayern Munich (GER)
Chelsea (ENG)
Benfica (POR)
Atletico Madrid (ESP)
Arsenal (ENG)
Porto (POR)

POT 2

Schalke 04 (GER)
Borussia Dortmund (GER)
Juventus (ITA)
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
Basel (SUI)
Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS)
Manchester City (ENG)

POT 3

Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
Olympiakos (GRE)
CSKA Moscow (RUS)
Ajax (NED)
Liverpool (ENG)
Sporting (POR)
Galatasaray (TUR)
Athletic Bilbao (ESP)

POT 4

Anderlecht (BEL)
AS Roma (ITA)
APOEL Nicosia (CYP)
BATE Borisov (BLR)
NK Maribor (SLO)
AS Monaco (FRA)
Malmo (SWE)
Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL)

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Would prefer to get Porto, Benfica, or Arsenal from Pot 1. Liverpool and Roma the teams to avoid from Pots 3 and 4.

 

we'll get Real as usual... p

 

Group D
Arsenal
Dortmund
Galatasaray
Anderlecht

Good group, managed to avoid the likes of Liverpool, Roma, and Monaco from the last two pots and got arguably one of the weaker Pot 1 teams in Arsenal who have some serious problems right now in key positions, notably their lack of a holding midfielder and no real top centerforward with Giroud out until January. Galatasaray won't be an easy opponent though, especially in Turkey, but I'd fancy this BVB team over them still. 6 points should be expected from Anderlecht who are the whipping boys of this group.

Managed to avoid a third consecutive Group of Death, the chances are good of finishing first in this group, stronger than they were in the last two seasons in fact. Now hopefully the key players will be fit and remain that way for the European matches which will make the assignment a whole lot more manageable to achieve the targets.

 

Some news...

Dortmund have consolidated strategic partnerships with three renowned companies; Evonik acquired a 9% stake in the club through a capital increase and extended the shirt sponsorship deal until June 2025, PUMA have extended until June 2020 on an equipment contract, and now Signal Iduna have agreed to an extension of the current naming rights contract of the stadium until June 30, 2026. Great news for BVB to extend with the 3 major current sponsoring companies of the club.

Also, the club is expecting gross proceeds of 140 million euros, of which 40 million will go into the reduction of financial liabilities and remaining funds will be held to increase financial resilience as a liquidity reserve which may be used in the future as growth supporting investments into the company's assets.

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In other news on the pitch, BVB beat Waldhof Mannheim 4-0 in a friendly on Tuesday. Immobile, Reus, Stenzel, and Ozbek with the goals.

Dortmund also got a second round DFB-Pokal draw away to 2. Bundesliga outfit FC St. Pauli, to be played on the 28/29th of October.

 

I'm very afraid of you, moreso than Arsenal which in comparison to you seems an incomplete and a toothless team (upfront). I fear that you could steamroll us by a huge margin, especially at Signal Iduna Park.

 

lol

 

alm:

 

That's true, though. I'm not afraid of Arsenal (even away) though and I'm beyond confident we'll give them a run for their money, but with Dortmund we'll have to be at our very best in order to stand a chance.

 

bleh, you're just trying to jinx it...

 

Interview with Ilkay Gündogan

It was not the kind of comeback Ilkay Gündogan would have wanted in front of his home crowd. Even if his team dominated the game for long stages and Gündogan kept them pushing forward, BVB slumped to a defeat against Hannover.

Football players are superstitious people. For some, the first step onto the pitch is always with the same foot, others have similar rituals. The team decided to play in the same shirts from the Champions League win in Istanbul. It still didn’t help…

No, it didn’t help. We have ended up empty-handed again and are disappointed.
image

From the 10th minute up until Hannover’s goal, BVB created a hatful of chances. Is there any way you can explain the result of the game?

Hannover attacked early, but we were still dominant until they scored. We were denied by the post, the crossbar and Zieler. Had one of them gone in, the game would have had a different outcome.

You were involved in the game’s decisive moment. Be honest, was it a foul on Bittencourt that led to the free-kick from which Kiyotake scored?

I haven’t seen the situation on TV yet and I can only tell how I experienced it: I hit the ball first and then also somehow his foot, but my foot cannot vanish into thin air, can it? I don’t think it was a foul.

How was the mood in the dressing room after the game?

There’s a word beginning with “s” that probably sums it up best. It was very quiet. We don’t have an easy time at the moment. In the last couple of weeks we have lost games against teams we shouldn’t have. And that hurts, even if the reaction of the fans after the game was amazing! But in the end, it is results that matters most, and we also want to pay the fans back. Only half of the things we do at the moment work out the way we want them to.”

It didn’t work out with the shirts, but those who are a bit superstitious will hope that BVB can replicate the form they showed in the Champions League games played under the lights on the domestic stage as well – after all, the games against St. Pauli, Bayern, Gladbach, Frankfurt, Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg will all kick off at 1730 CET or later…

…and on Sunday the clocks are turned back an hour, meaning it will also be dark by the time of the final whistle for the games that kick off at 1530… :howler::yess:

 

btw thanks Tigerheart for creating the black-yellow forum! :thmbup::yess:
a nice gift to all BVB fans in really hard times...:boxing:

 

I actually have nothing to do with it.

 

ah ok, in that case, bugger off! :howler: who was initiating it then? azulgrana?

 

Wally probably.

 

Azulgrana asked me if I'd object and I said "no, go ahead and ask the admins". I guess that is what he did then.

 

so, next round in the DFB Pokal away against Dynamo Dresden on March 3rd/4th

 

our possible opponents in the first round of the knock-out stages:

Manchester City
Juventus Turin
FC Basel
Paris Saint-Germain
Schachtjor Donezk

so, still avoiding the top favourites like Real, Bayern or Barca.

 

You should avoid Paris. Also given the recent form of Dortmund Man City and Juve are tougher opponents than the other two for sure. I hope you get Basel or Donezk.

 

Klopp has confirmed that Langerak will play until the winter break.

 

imo, the right way to go. then they can sit together in the winter break and decide whom to trust for the remaining season.

 

I'm not sure what's up with Klopp not trusting Weidenfeller. He hasn't been the weakest spot in the team. If anything, thanks to him, Borussia only lost 1-0 in certain Bundesliga games where it could have been 2-0 or 3-0 without his saves.

 

so, Juventus it is... First away in Torino.

 

Good chance to see the state between #1 team from Serie A and a Bundesliga team in relegation battle. :devil:

 

the full draw:
PSG Vs Chelsea
Man City Vs Barcelona
Leverkusen Vs Atl Mad
Juve Vs Dortmund
Schalke Vs Real
Shakhtar Vs Bayern
Arsenal Vs Monaco
Basel Vs Porto

 

Good draw in my opinion, it's probably the most balanced tie of the round. A lot will depend on how our best players recover and what approach Juve go with, whether they'll defend deep and hit on counters or open up, but it's a tight one to call at this point. Lots can still change between now and mid February.

 

Happy Birthday to your 105th Birthday, Dear BVB!! :musik::musik::musik:

Tumultuous scenes played out last evening in connection with the foundation of ”Ballspiel-Verein Borussia 1909“ [Ball Sports Club “Borussia 1909”] in the north east of Dortmund. Over 40 members of the youth Catholic Holy Trinity, Flurstrasse, met at 1900 in the ”Zum Wildschutz“ restaurant at Oesterholzstrasse 60, with the intention of founding ”BVB“ partly out of a love for sport but also out of anger at chaplain Hubert Dewald who is responsible for youth affairs in the trinity. Speaker and vice-president of the fledgling club, Franz Jacobi, announced, ”I have been a member of the Trinity Youth since 1902 and since 1906 we have been playing on the ”Weissen Wiese“. We footballers have been systematically attacked and defamed by our church since 1906. We can no longer put up with this. This club is absolutely necessary.“ Father Dewald tried to intervene personally to stop the founding without success. Both he and his followers were denied entry, at times forcibly. However, his appearance did see some 20 rebels back down and so just ”18“ true Borussen took part in the foundation. By the way, the name ”Borussia“ is leant from the Borussia brewery on the street Steiger Strasse. The club colours: blue and white stripes with a red inset, black shorts. The new club will now seek admittance to the West German FA.

 

Evil Jürgen Klopp is directly responsible for the disgusting attacks of BVB fans on poor Marcel Reif. :angel: