Borussia Dortmund continue their pre-season preparations with an encounter against Erzgebirge Aue at Erzgebirge Stadium in Aue-Bad Schlema on Wednesday.
While BVB took part in their first friendly match last Friday, Erzgebirge Aue are now preparing for their fourth game of pre-season.
Match preview
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Just under six weeks after losing in the Champions League final to Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund kick-started their pre-season campaign with an emphatic 7-1 victory over the DEW-21 dream team, made up of Dortmund amateur players and influencers.
Most of Dortmund's senior squad are still on vacation, but Felix Nmecha and Youssoufa Moukoko were two first-team stars who netted braces as the Black and Yellow sealed a comfortable victory in Nuri Sahin's first game in charge since the departure of Edin Terzic.
Sahin, who spent almost two years in charge of Turkish club Antalyaspor before joining Terzic's backroom staff in December last year, has said that "being the coach of Borussia Dortmund is a privilege" and the 35-year-old has promised to implement an attacking brand of football at Westfalenstadion, as well as put faith in a number of the club's young prospects.
Dortmund finished as low as fifth in the Bundesliga last season for the first time in nine years, but thanks to Germany's superior UEFA coefficient ranking, BVB have qualified for next season's newly-formed Champions League.
After facing Erzgebirge Aue on Wednesday, the Black and Yellow will travel to Japan for friendlies against Pathum United Shinji Kagawa's Cerezo Osaka, before concluding pre-season with matches versus Villarreal in Austria and Aston Villa on home soil. Dortmund begin the 2024-25 season with a DFB-Pokal first-round clash against lower-league side Phonix Lubeck on August 17.
While Dortmund played their first friendly last Friday, Erzgebirge Aue have already taken part in three pre-season matches since July 6 and have had mixed success so far, winning two and losing one.
In between a heavy 4-0 loss to ZFC Meuselwitz, the Violets thrashed Glenavon 5-0 before beating regional league newcomers Plauen by a 4-0 scoreline last Friday, courtesy of goals from Kilian Jakob (2), Marcel Bar and Boris Tashchy.
Manager Pavel Dochev was pleased to see his side end a five-day training camp in Bad Blankenburg on a high and they are now planning to 'train more intensively' during the second half of their pre-season preparations.
Erzgebirge Aue are gearing up for their third successive season in the third tier of German football after finishing sixth in the table last season and just three points behind the promotion playoff spot - an improvement on the previous campaign when they finished 14th with 15 fewer points.
After testing their mettle against Dortmund on Wednesday, the Violets will face Carl Zeiss Jena just three days later in their final friendly fixture before preparing for their opening 3. Liga match of 2024-25 at home against Hannover 96 II on August 3.
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Team News
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Borussia Dortmund still have several of their senior stars on vacation, but there are some currently working with Sahin, including Nmecha, Moukoko, Julian Brandt, Karim Adeyemi, Sebastien Haller, Niklas Sule, Julian Ryerson and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens.
Sezer Toy, Almugera Kabar, Ayman Azhil and Paris Brunner were all on the scoresheet for BVB last time out and they are set to be among a number of youngster involved against Erzgebirge Aue.
Sahin selected two different lineups for each half against the DEW-21 dream team and is expected to do the same on Wednesday.
As for Erzgebirge Aue, Can Ozkan (ligament) and Omar Sijaric (muscle) are both ruled out with injuries, but the rest of Dochev's squad is fit and raring to go.
New signings Maxim Burghardt, Ricky Bornschein, Mika Clausen, Pascal Fallmann and Jonah Fabisch all featured in the club's most recent friendly and are set to take part in some capacity against Dortmund.
Erzgebirge Aue possible starting lineup:
Lord; Burghardt, Barylla, Vukancic, Jakob, Pepic, Fabisch, Stefaniak, Clausen, Bornschein, Bar
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Meyer; Ryerson, Sule, Coulibaly, Rothe; Nmecha, Watjen; Adeyemi, Brandt, Bynoe-Gittens; Haller
We say: Erzgebirge Aue 0-3 Borussia Dortmund
Even though Borussia Dortmund are without a number of senior stars, Sahin still has several talented first-team and academy players at his disposal and the Bundesliga giants should have few problems securing a comfortable win over their third-tier counterparts.
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Oliver Thomas
