Following the departure of Nuri Sahin, the “Black and Yellows” have played three matches under Danish coach Mike Tullberg.
In their first game, Dortmund led 2-0 but ultimately drew 2-2 against Werder Bremen after being reduced to ten men from the 21st minute due to a red card for Nico Schlotterbeck. A few days later, Borussia secured an expected and easy win at home against Shakhtar Donetsk, before claiming a 2-1 away victory against Heidenheim last weekend.
In all three matches, Sebastien Haller was on the scoresheet (netting twice against Shakhtar), with Rami Bensebaini and Maximilian Bayer adding to the tally, alongside an own goal from Marco Friedl.
Despite their Champions League victory, Dortmund failed to finish in the top-8, meaning they will now face playoff matches against Sporting Lisbon. Additionally, four points from their fixtures have not been enough to lift the “Black and Yellows” into the top ten due to a slightly inferior goal difference compared to Wolfsburg, the former team of Nico Kovac, who will make his managerial debut for Borussia this weekend.
The choice is, frankly, a bit questionable, but perhaps this is the place where the Croatian coach can achieve noticeable success. After all, the “Black and Yellows” possess considerable potential. Borussia are just three points behind their upcoming opponents, who currently sit fifth in the league table, meaning a successful debut for Kovac could improve his team’s standings.
Stuttgart
In contrast to their Dortmund counterparts, the Swabians failed to progress to the Champions League playoffs, suffering a humiliating 1-4 defeat at home to PSG in their final group stage match.
As a result, the “White and Reds” finished the tournament in 26th place with only 10 points. However, unlike Borussia, Sebastian Hoeneß’s team still has an opportunity to claim the DFB-Pokal.
This week, Stuttgart clinched a narrow 1-0 victory against Augsburg in the quarter-finals, with the only goal scored by Deniz Undav in the 30th minute. Bayer also advanced to the semi-finals, with the final two participants to be determined later from the ties between Arminia vs. Werder and Leipzig vs. Wolfsburg.
As for Stuttgart’s Bundesliga results, they unexpectedly lost 0-1 at home to St. Pauli at the end of last year, but have kicked off the new calendar year with a three-match winning streak that lifted them into the top four of the league table.
In their last two matches of the first half, Hoeneß’s team recorded back-to-back narrow wins – first 1-0 away at Augsburg, followed by a 2-1 home victory against Leipzig.
Stuttgart opened the second half of the season with an impressive 4-0 thrashing of Freiburg, but have since suffered two losses in their last two outings: a 0-2 defeat to their nearest rival Mainz away, followed by a 1-2 home loss to Borussia Mönchengladbach, causing them to slip to fifth place in the Bundesliga standings.
Borussia vs. Stuttgart: Expected Lineups
Once again, Borussia will be without their key center-back Nico Schlotterbeck due to suspension, meaning the central defensive pair will likely be Waldemar Anton and Emre Can. Additionally, the hosts will be missing midfielder Felix Nmecha, and the participation of versatile defender Niklas Sule remains questionable.
On the Stuttgart side, they are still without injured players Dan-Axel Zagadou, Luca Raimund, and El-Bilal Toure. It is also likely that center-back Amin Al-Dahili and versatile player Enzo Miyo will not recover in time, although Josha Vagnoman and Nik Woltemade are expected to be available.
