All language subtitles for Inside.Borussia.Dortmund.S01E01.AMZN.WEB-DL.English.US.ENG

To start with, yes of course,
I want to play football.

My philosophy was:
we want to win the game.

We have to master the game.
You need to have the ball.

You need great technique.

You also need match intelligence.
That's clear. You need time.

You need money to do that,

but you also need physical potential.

Everyone says
mental strength is very important.

But to have
mental strength on the pitch,

you need players who,
before all else,

are able to run.

Who are able to run. Do you understand?

Because saying,
"He has a super mentality,

but he can't run back and forth,"
that's no use.

And if you have a player on the team,

who does nothing defensively,

you don't have a team.
You don't have a team.

That's dangerous.
Losing possession here, counter...

Nowadays you have to be able to play
hurt. They can suffer, really suffer.

This is...
You asked me about my philosophy.

To play football, but...

You can have a team, a real team.

And then you can wage war,
if you have that.

If you have that.

TRAINING CAMP, MARBELLA
JANUARY 2019

Okay, guys. We'll do two rounds
of circuit training.

Then we can watch some football.

In the summer,
we didn't know how Dortmund were doing.

The squad had changed significantly.
There were many new players.

Plus a new manager. These
are factors for which you can't plan.

Football isn't a drawing board.

We want to improve a lot,
to play good football.

If someone had told us on July 1st
that we'd be here in Marbella,

leading the table by six points,
I'd have said, "Who? Us?"

It's gone far better
than we ever imagined

in our wildest dreams, which of course
causes problems in itself.

Increased expectations.
All around Borussia Dortmund,

we face more media pressure.
But it could be worse.

We want to play good football,
but of course also winning football.

Sadly both those things
aren't always possible.

We've seen that before.
Sometimes you have to win ugly.

The philosophy's very clear.
We want to play good football.

We want to excite the fans.

And the manager brings
the perfect qualities to implement that.

Two rounds of exercises.

This year we had a super team.

Lots of young players
had a great deal of success.

We're proud of that, but the project is
just starting, there's a long way to go.

MATCHDAY 1

At the home game,

they really let Leipzig
play to their strengths in Dortmund.

They were able to counter quickly.
We were playing quite high,

and we left gaps.

They could have led 2:0.

Luckily that didn't happen.
Bürki made saves. That was crucial.

In the end we won 4:1.

I'm glad I was there at that moment
and could help the team.

That's really when it started
with our good run, I'd say.

MATCHDAY 5

At some point it really started.
They were flying.

Jadon Sancho showed
what an outstanding street footballer

he is on the pitch as well.

MATCHDAY 6

Paco Alcácer came on very late
and scored instantly.

Everything worked in that phase.

Paco Alcácer totally amazed me.

He came, he saw, he scored.

It's incredible
how little time he needed

to acclimatize in Dortmund.

He's a natural-born scorer,

and also he's someone
his team-mates can link up with.

It's quite a rare combination,

with classic center-forwards,
with classic penalty box strikers.

TRAINING CAMP, MARBELLA
JANUARY 2019

We thought long and hard
about who to play at No. 9.

We had Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
for years there most recently.

And in that phase
it became theoretically possible

that we could take Paco on loan.

That Barcelona were willing
to let him go.

We knew him from Valencia.
Then he moved to Barça.

Normally he'd be off our radar.

But the problems they're having
with competition are well known.

And of course Paco has had
a huge impact here, because he

has a finishing quality
that I have rarely seen before.

On the other hand,
we also had a bit of luck.

At the time of Paco's transfer, no one
thought he'd score 12 goals in 12 games.

You always have to stay humble.

I'm sure we made
a lot of good decisions.

You have to compliment Michael Zorc,
who was in control overall.

But a bit of luck is part of it too.

MATCHDAY 7

Mario Götze had made an almost
traumatically poor start to the season.

In the summer he wasn't called up
for the World Cup.

Then he lost his starting place
at Borussia Dortmund.

At times he wasn't even on the bench.

Against Augsburg, he came on,
he got involved at once, he was there.

For me it wasn't a redemption,
but it was a moment when I thought

the previous months hadn't gone well,

then coming on and scoring,
at home in front of the south stand,

it was all perfect,
and it was a special moment for me.

I could feel all the positive energy
being showered on me.

For me personally
it was a very emotional match.

It think that was something
that did him personally a world of good.

Also because of the fact that everybody

celebrated for him.

That everyone in the stadium
that afternoon knew

just what that goal, what that moment,

that explosion, meant to Mario Götze.

The Dortmund fans in the south stand
weren't always his greatest friends.

There were still quite a lot of them

who hadn't forgiven him
for going to Bayern Munich,

who didn't give him a friendly welcome
when he came back.

The Augsburg game,
where we won 4:3 in the 96th minute

with Paco's free kick, those are
emotions you rarely have in football.

That was extremely important

for us as a team
for the remainder of the season.

It was fantastic.
I was totally stoked after the match.

It was crazy.

But the next day
you still have to analyze the match,

and realize it was very, very hard.

MATCHDAY 11

Bayern was a brilliant game,

because on that day, Bayern also played
very well. It was an excellent match.

And then to win it,

and for all the people watching
to think it was a fair result,

that boosts your self-confidence
to another level.

The match against Bayern
was a boost, of course.

We went behind twice,

but then we came back three times.

And that characterizes us at the moment,

that we're willing to go beyond
the limit, that we believe in ourselves.

We made some great transfers,
we have a good age structure,

experienced players and young players.

And it's a good mixture
that we have at the moment.

We learned a lot from last season.
That's why we opted for

more drastic measures and changes.

We didn't really have
a good balance in the team last year.

We were too easy to beat.

If you as Dortmund get two points
from an easy Champions League group,

it means you've done it all wrong.

In the end we realized that we perhaps

focused too much on footballing elements
of the team line-up, not on the rest.

Also, the attack on the team bus

had a far greater negative impact
on the following season

than we could have imagined
in any nightmares.

TRAINING CAMP, MARBELLA
JANUARY 2019

You prepare for a Champions League game,
you spend ages in the hotel,

you're glad when the bus
finally leaves for the stadium.

We hadn't even gone 100 meters,

and suddenly there was a huge bang.

Then shortly afterwards a second one.

I saw Marc Bartra screaming...

We all tried to take cover,
because we didn't know what it was.

Yes, it was...

Those were the most terrible minutes
or seconds of my life, I think.

You didn't know what was happening.

The whole bus shook.
I heard windows shattering.

I automatically slammed on the brakes,
as I think anyone would.

Then I saw clouds of dust in the mirror,

that the explosion had caused.

And of course
I was perplexed for ten seconds, because

I didn't know what had happened.
Then I turned around to Mr. Tuchel.

I asked him, "Thomas,
do you know what just happened?"

He didn't answer,
because he was preoccupied with himself.

In the back, Marc Bartra was injured,
which I hadn't realized up front.

There was shouting, a commotion.

Then I saw Marc,
his wrist covered in blood.

He was yelling,
he was sweating and pale.

There was a hole,
like a bullet hole, in the bus.

You didn't know if people would come in,
or what was happening.

Were there several of them?

You were lying on the floor,
and hoping it was over.

We yelled that he should keep driving,
that we shouldn't stop there,

that we should move away
from the whole thing.

It was very frightening,
alarming to be there at that moment,

and to look at your team mates
and friends and see fear,

with the young players hiding
under their seats. That was really...

something that you
don't want to experience.

Now we have experienced it
and we're trying to deal with it.

There was a driveway on the right that
joined the main road 100 m further on,

There was a hedge on the right,
where the pipe bombs were positioned.

Before long, I think I was the first,
I informed our office, using the words,

"There's been a bomb attack on the bus."

I said I thought
we couldn't play that day.

At first they didn't believe me.

The first retort I got was
"April Fool's Day was ten days ago."

Then when I got home,
I watched the news for the first time.

When they started talking on TV
about the bomb attack,

attempted murder, that's when it sank in
that it had really happened.

When they talked of 27 counts of
attempted murder, you were one of them.

I think it got really bad for me
when you saw what could have happened.

That we had a huge amount of luck.

How much shrapnel was
found in the headrests,

or didn't even hit the bus.
Or for example that

there were cars parked between
the bus and the explosives,

which also took
some of the force of the blast.

Mostly I only talk about it to people
in whom I've already confided.

Otherwise whenever there's
a quiet moment now

and something gets dropped somewhere,
or there's a loud noise,

unfortunately it still happens that

you get a bigger fright
than you normally would.

But that's also something that,

with these conversations
or with the frequency of these moments,

that you start to deal with better.

I still have after-effects too.

But I no longer
automatically associate them directly

with someone dropping something,
when there's a loud crash.

That causes a bit of anger in me
and I think, "Hey, be careful."

Several people warned us
about post-traumatic problems

that would arise
six to eight months later.

That's what happened and
it was exacerbated by the court case.

Players, who today go about their jobs
in quite a sheltered environment,

were suddenly confronted
with very different things.

On Thursdays they sit in court opposite
the bomber, who is 5 to 10 m away.

And many players
couldn't cope with that.

They were shattered on Thursday evening
and had to play a match two days later.

That was a turning point. And you
saw which players were doing okay,

and which players would be better off
with a change of environment.

If you don't board the black and yellow
team bus, or stay at the hotel,

then maybe you'll feel freer again.
And so we had a big clear-out.

Perhaps we needed to do that
a year earlier, if we had realized.

But then I'm sure we'd have been
accused of scaremongering,

of dumping players who were victims
of a bomb attack two months previously.

At the end of the day,
we couldn't find a better solution,

because there is no blueprint. No club
can claim ever to have experienced this.

Then Rapha, Jacob, Jules, Achraf,

Ömer, Julian and Marius.

Dortmund's club management changed
a bit. Sebastian Kehl was brought in.

Aki Watzke and Michael Zorc asked me
if I could take a look at things.

If I could give any input and ideas.

A few transfers were made
to give the team a face again.

But you need a conductor.

The director is Lucien Favre.

He's a very experienced manager.

You can see wherever he's been
that his teams

play very structured, very attractive
football, with lots of possession,

and control the game,
and he advocates that.

But, and this perhaps differs
from certain previous years,

he still tries to bring
a proper, healthy balance to our game.

He gives the team a clear signature.

What makes the uniqueness of a manager

is that you recognize
from the style of play,

without having to see the uniforms,

that this is a team
that plays like Lucien Favre,

that plays like Guardiola
or like Jürgen Klopp.

I can't say what he'd do
in his free time otherwise.

I only know him
meticulously attending to all the things

that are needed to win the next match.

He knows the opposition inside out.

If he's overlooked something,
he rewinds the video and shows everyone.

He really wants everyone to understand
what he means.

And for us to be like that too.
For us to live football as well.

And that's exactly what we need.
We need the example of how he does it.

Come on, come on. Hey!

He loves watching football, talking
football and thinking about football.

He loves standing at the tactics board,
tinkering with new ideas to implement.

Someone with his career,
in the business for so long,

who stills questions things every day,

looking for new approaches
and solutions, that impresses me a lot.

He tries to improve small details

in the players,
which all together have a big effect.

I've seen it in a lot of players

who have developed in small areas
without noticing,

but who do things differently
from six months before.

You can always improve technique.
And there's a lot they can learn.

Who can make a diagonal pass
with left and right?

Instead of using the right foot,

and you lose ten seconds,
and your opponents are already there.

You have to see who can do that.

Who has the potential to do that?

In six months, in a year and so on.

At the same time,
he's also very, very human.

Very, very happy about things
when they work.

As a team, we're always so glad
when we see he's glad

that something works out
that we've practiced.

And that's the special spirit
that we've developed

since the summer,
that we push each other,

but also show each other respect,
if we've achieved these things together.

Borussia Dortmund has to some extent
broken with its own transfer philosophy.

That means they no longer just bank on
young talent that can be developed,

because last season they noticed

that in certain pressure situations
the team didn't really seem to fight.

That in some games they even collapsed.

They also lacked a bit of experience.

In our meetings,
Matthias Sammer kept describing

a certain type of player that we lacked,

without us even knowing
that Witsel was coming on to the market.

I remember Michael coming to us suddenly

whereupon we had another meeting,
and he said,

"Witsel is coming on to the market,
maybe we have a chance."

And all four of us
were totally electrified,

because he's the player type

that in theory we'd have come up with
beforehand as a transfer target.

Morning, Axel.

We call it the king transfer, as Axel is
the head of the team in that position.

You never feel like he'll lose the ball.
Even in tricky situations

he doesn't lose it. He gives his all,
no matter how it makes him look.

Axel is someone we could have done with
in the last few years.

His calm on the ball, the structure,

the way he plays football,
and prepares for matches and trains.

He's an extremely intelligent player,

who dictates and demonstrates
the rhythm to this team.

It's was a stroke of luck
that he was available,

that I got a call saying, "Axel Witsel
could be coming on the market.

He wants to leave China."
With such outstanding quality,

I believe he could play a part
in any team in the world.

After a great World Cup with Belgium,
I thought it was the right moment.

I thought it was my last chance,
to return to Europe to a big club.

And also with it being Dortmund,
I didn't hesitate for a second.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE

We progressed through
the Champions League very well.

That's quite unusual
in the Champions League,

conceding only two goals in the
group stage, in only one of six games.

We were looking good, very stable.

For me overall,
the best game this team played,

where you could see the huge potential
this squad has,

was the home Champions League match
against Atlético Madrid.

I think Atlético Madrid
is the most difficult team

you can play against
when it comes to scoring goals.

And Borussia Dortmund tore them apart.
I found that deeply impressive.

For me it was also the best game
that Mario Götze has played for years.

TRAINING CAMP, MARBELLA
JANUARY 2019

Jadon Sancho's a real street footballer.
There aren't many of them left now.

People often
get called street footballers,

but really they've pretty much died out
in Central Europe.

We only ever deal in probabilities.
Never certainties.

I'd never say, "I know.
It was obvious. It was bound to happen."

There's always a risk, and the younger
the players are, the bigger the risk is.

But still, a year ago we decided

to pay 7.5 million
for the then 17-year-old,

even though he hadn't played a minute
in the Premier League.

It was only based on his talent,

which we had seen
in the England youth teams,

that we concluded
that the lad needed one to three years

before he could help Borussia Dortmund.

But it happened so fast...
He's still a youth player.

He could play for our A-youth team
against Preussen Münster, going by age.

But he has unbelievable quality.

And what's even more amazing,

is the consistency of his performances.

I think he's broken every record in
England. The lad has a massive future.

That you can say with certainty!

Age isn't a limiting factor for us here.

I really like working with young people,
and so does the manager.

Because the aims
are often the same.

I think what we've
developed well in recent years,

is, if you like,
the calling card we can present.

So as well as the targets we've set,
which are quite ambitious,

we're also a good step to take
for young players

wanting to develop to the highest level.

Jadon Sancho isn't only
a gifted dribbler,

but in addition to that,
which combined makes his greatest skill,

even when he's dribbling and moving

he looks up,
sees a team mate in a better position

and then puts in
a precise pass to him.

That takes skill.
Not everyone can do that.

TRAINING CAMP - OSTEOPATHY ROOM

Jadon's 18. We have to
be careful not to overload him,

as things can come to
a standstill for six months.

But he's an instinctive footballer.

He knows the right thing to do
from the flow of the move.

You can't coach that.
Either you have it or you don't.

He has the ability to become one of
the really great players in Europe.

He needs consistency
and to get over difficulties,

and to keep pushing himself.

One must never forget how young he is.

All the hype around him this season
isn't easy for him to deal with either.

Being confronted with transfer fees
in the hundreds of millions

at that age, with all the challenges,
it's really not easy for him.

He became an England regular very fast
and gets lots of media attention there.

So part of what the club is doing
is to keep him grounded.

To tell him he'll keep developing,
and that he still needs

a little time to process it all
and to take the next step.

I have no sporting worries about him.
But all the stuff around him, the hype,

if he learns to deal with it,
with his environment and family,

he'll become a great. But he still has
a few challenges to meet.

TRAINING CAMP - LUGGAGE ROOM

Franky, do you have a long-armed
under-shirt for me? And a short one?

Long and short?

Long in L and short in XL, please.

Dženis, wait!

Wait!

This isn't a job, where you sit around,
do your work and then go home.

You're totally involved with the club.

You have highs and lows,
and I've been through it all.

We've won the league,
won the double, we've won the cup.

When things are going badly,
we have to stick together

and put things right,
and we always manage to do that.

Sure, they have moods.

If you have any knowledge of people,
then you know

whether to speak to Player X now
or wait till lunchtime.

You have to be able to do that.

I spoke to them the way they did to me.
If that didn't suit them,

they came back two days later
and had calmed down.

I have the nerve to do that.

I trained as a mining mechanic
for three years.

I did my apprenticeship in the "Fürst
Hardenberg" and "Minister Stein" pits.

I was underground for over ten years

until I came up for health reasons
after I slipped a disk.

It was a great time.

And it saddens me that
the last mine has been closed down.

Because with all the pits we had
all around Dortmund,

something has died out.
And my buddies who are out of work now,

you feel for them. That's how it is.

Dortmund's kit man Frank Gräfen is a
real rarity today with his mining past.

An absolute exception.

This connection between mining
and football used to be the norm.

That's how Dortmund
first got put on the map.

Dortmund stands for steel,
iron and coal on the one hand,

and for the Hall of Westphalia
and Borussia Dortmund on the other.

You virtually breathe
that down-to-earthness.

You didn't have to seek it out. It was
just there. You found it everywhere.

I got to know Adi Preissler
and various old warriors there

and I was always hearing about

the significance of the club
for the city and the region.

You absorb that, and there was
a massive sense of identity.

All the commotion surrounding it today

didn't exist then,

The simple saying,
"Let's get down to brass tacks",

has been the most formative one
for me to this day.

I could identify with people
who lived by that.

If you ask me today about the
breed of people I feel really close to,

then it's the people in
and around Dortmund. Definitely.

FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Despite bad weather, almost 70,000
are packed into the Olympic Stadium

for the final of the German League.
Dortmund, in light shirts, vs Karlsruhe.

Following a scramble in the Karlsruhe
goal mouth, Niepieklo gets the ball

and scores an unstoppable goal.

In the 27th minute, Kelbassa heads in
a corner. 2:1 to Dortmund.

Borussia Dortmund
beats Karlsruher SC 4:2

and deservedly become German champions.

GERMAN LEAGUE WINNERS 1956 AND 1957

Before their success in the 50's,
Borussia Dortmund were

only involved as also-rans.
That changed fundamentally, of course.

In those days the players were
all from the area, they were locals.

Charlie Schütz from Lütgendortmund,
Lothar Emmerich from Dorstfeld,

Willi Sturm, Aki Schmidt. Hoppy Kurrat
was from Borsigplatz, he lived there.

On the right, all in white, FC Cologne.

'63 was the last time the old format
of the German League was played.

The odds-on favorites were FC Cologne,

with Hornig, Schnellinger,
Schäfer and so on.

It was a great team.
We were rank outsiders.

It was unbelievably hot.

I know my parents
travelled there by bus.

Goal!

When I think that
we beat Cologne 3:1,

at my young age, that was
the greatest success you could imagine.

Being a German Champion
at 22 was unimaginable.

Beating Liverpool 2:1 for a big title,
the Cup Winners' Cup, was crucial.

They got into the final in 1966,

though Liverpool were the favorites.

Emmerich.

Aki Schmidt... Emmerich.

It went to extra time.
It was 1:1 after 90 minutes.

It was an energy-sapping match.

And as luck would have it,
Stan Libuda, a great right winger,

both for Schalke and for us,

got the ball in the 106th minute

and put a long looping chip
into the English goal...

Libuda's ball drops into the goal!
Into the goal!

Into the goal. That's unbelievable.

EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS' CUP 1966

They rolled the red carpet out for us.

People on both sides of the autobahn
were waving black and yellow flags.

Right into the city, via Borsigplatz.

The city was filled with people.
You can't imagine what it was like.

And then we really enjoyed
what we had achieved.

It was very special for
the region here and for all of Germany.

It was the second biggest
football success after World War II.

The first World Cup win in '54,

and in '66, a German team
first won the Cup Winners' Cup.

That boosted people's
self-esteem in the region.

Particularly here, where it's all about
work, hard grueling work.

For them that was something that
they could really look up to.

START OF SECOND HALF OF SEASON
JANUARY 2019

If we want to be at the top in the end,
we need to get hungrier,

because the competition are improving.

I don't know if we can.
I ask myself that 20 times a day.

I don't know this team well enough yet.

Everything worked in the first 18 ties.
You walked on the pitch thinking,

"So what if they take a 1:0 lead?
We'll win."

It's certainly possible.
But I definitely think that

the second round of 18 games
will be extremely hard.

Bayern Munich will have a resurgence.

It will be a challenge for us,

starting with the Leipzig match,

to muster the same desire to win
as in the first half of the season.

We didn't win every match
5:0 walking away,

some were hard-fought and turned-around.

Can we do that again? Have we

drawn any false conclusions from
the situation in the table right now?

The Christmas tree's decorated, everyone
says you're favorites for the title.

There's no reason for us
to change our approach,

even if we're the team to beat.
So what? So be it. It's irrelevant.

It will be hard in Leipzig.

It'll be war.
We have to go into the contact,

be physically prepared. They're strong.

Especially in Leipzig.
I don't think they've lost at home.

I wouldn't say the game will decide
who wins the league.

But if we do win in Leipzig,

we'll stay in an upward spiral,
like we have now.

And we have to continue on that spiral.

We knew if we didn't perform in Leipzig,
it wouldn't be a great start.

So it was an important game to
set us up for the rest of the season.

For one thing, it was a great goal.
You don't score those every day.

It was also symbolic of
Axel Witsel in the first 18 games.

He surprised many people by
seizing the central role.

He came here, and we all know Dortmund
fans are critical of mercenaries.

Then someone comes, who played
for years in Russia and China.

And you think, in terms of quality,
another league would be enough for him.

So what does he want?
Does he just want to cash in?

And I think Axel Witsel
gave the best answer.

He showed he wants success,
he wants to win.

I think he has
the best passing stats in Europe.

He's very important. Now we know why
he's called the "lifeboat" in Belgium.

He often saves his team. If need be,
with goals, like against Leipzig.

MATCHDAY 18

The win in Leipzig was a big point.
No question.

During the match,
I was pretty sure we'd win,

because we were in
better overall form that day.

Bravo, guys!

JANUARY 23, 2019

I've been doing this with Aki Watzke
for over a decade.

When there are problems,
you may sometimes run the risk

of always having the same answers,
always reaching for the same textbook,

and always using the same recipes
to find solutions.

So I think it's good
to have someone like Matthias Sammer

who isn't part of the club,
who observes everything from a distance.

He doesn't have to be there often.

We know Matthias,

and the warts-and-all appraisal
that he gives,

so that we can perhaps come to
new ways of solving things.

I was interested,
because the next step for me

wasn't to return to an
active management role anywhere.

I can't and I don't want to be a danger
to anyone active in the sport.

No manager or club executive
needs to be scared of me anymore

in the sense that I'm angling for
a position in a club.

Congratulations.
- What for? - Saturday.

I've been a player, a manager,
responsible for youth players

and I've worked in
club management roles.

I think I have some understanding
of what makes people tick.

And I've made it quite clear

I don't want to be
any of those things now.

Maybe I'd like to be a player again,
but that isn't really possible.

Knowing that has to be
the starting point. So I always try

to present arguments
from the perspective of the whole.

Then the call came.

I was quite clear

that I wanted to get back
into professional football,

but I also wanted to go
to the club I love, Borussia Dortmund.

Because the role
hadn't existed in that form,

the need for it had grown
to some extent over the year.

You cannot simultaneously
initiate transfers

be having talks, be abroad,

complete transfers,
and always be the contact person,

for the team, for the manager,
for players that are maybe injured

or are unhappy
about not playing enough.

So I thought it was urgently necessary

to bring somebody in
to help and support us,

but who is also a heavyweight.

And I think we made
a good choice in Sebastian Kehl.

Let's begin. What's your take on it
from watching on TV?

The problems in defense...

As a calculated pessimist,
which one can be in phases like this,

you have to prepare yourself
for when it gets really difficult.

It was an exceptional reaction
by the team to match them.

Leipzig hadn't lost a game
at home till then.

So my gut feeling would have been,

"If you take a point there,
it would be important for team morale."

The middle was rock solid, in my eyes.
Everything else stabilized as a result.

Especially in the center of midfield,
with Axel and...

Delaney, no question about it.

When it comes to
analysis of potential players,

Matthias is the one
who has lots of input.

At the end of the day, this is a meeting

that's intended to give Michael Zorc
some orientation and assistance.

Because ultimately he has to make
the decisions. We don't vote on them.

It's clear that Michael
is responsible for the transfer area.

And he has to decide.
But he would be stupid

if he didn't take
the others' assessments seriously.

I discussed it previously with Michael,
saying we should open up,

due to the realization that the business
is getting ever more complex.

And it worked.

Before we start talking
about transfer concepts,

what is still current
from your perspective?

Well, Balerdi...
We've brought him forward to the winter.

The transfer was originally planned
for the summer. Why is this?

There was suddenly some pressure
from other clubs expressing interest.

And also, even though
the transfer would give us options,

in connection with our injury situation
in central defense...

First of all, it was very big
of Aki Watzke and Michael Zorc

to say at all, "We're expanding the team
of experts and areas of responsibility."

Because they also knew
they were bringing in two guys

who are active in the media,

who make their presence felt and have
a certain self-confidence about them.

But I think it will all lead to
us making better decisions.

To us having an
even better team in the future.

Hopefully we'll succeed.

I've brought the up-to-date results
from the performance test we did.

There are some changes. We'll probably
have to speak to the rehab department,

and to the athletic department
about getting one or two to a new level.

MATCHDAY 19

Hakimi is a huge talent.

He's much more than just a right-back.
He's fast,

he has great close ball control,

he's dangerous in front of goal,
he has vision.

In many other Bundesliga teams
he'd have prominent role in attack.

He could do that. Without a doubt.

A great player. A real enrichment for
Borussia Dortmund and the Bundesliga.

We have him for another year and a half.

I wonder if Borussia Dortmund
can keep him for longer.

If I was Real Madrid
or had a say in the matter,

then Dortmund wouldn't have
a chance of keeping him.

Achraf provided a great assist
for my second goal.

He gave his opponent no chance,
he stole the ball and played me in.

Nowadays it's extremely important
to have wide players in attack,

who win one-on-ones and create
situations where you have more players.

I've played every three days
at this level for ten years,

My body is getting older,
that's normal,

and for young players to come along too,
that's part of football.

Achraf is incredibly dynamic and lively.

He's the fastest player in our team.

Seeing these guys deal with situations
in such a relaxed way at their age

is still hard to believe. To be honest,
only these signings are improving us.

It doesn't help me or the club

if we don't improve in certain positions
or create competition for them.

It's important not to get discouraged,
and also to treat each other

with respect and to
push each other on to the highest level.

NEW YORK TIMES INTERVIEW
FEBRUARY 2019

I was born here
and spent my whole childhood here.

You absorb the Borussia Dortmund DNA.
I went to the stadium with my parents.

Back then of course, there was
no way of knowing that one day

I would run out into the stadium
and play before that massive backdrop.

So it's really a dream
that came true at some point.

So yeah, I'm pretty proud for sure.

I'm going to be a father of a beautiful
daughter. That will bring changes.

I don't want to end up one day
wishing that I'd enjoyed my time more.

I think that would hurt me the most.

I'm still finding my way of course,

but I know what I want
and I've made a solid start to life.

Of course, the injuries were
difficult for me, also mentally.

Nevertheless, they were "only injuries".

Other people are worse off.
You have to view it like that.

A bit lower, please.
You know how it works.

A cruciate ligament injury
is as bad as it gets.

The team went back out for
the second half. I bandaged his knee.

Then you're in the dressing room
and all you can do is reassure him.

He knew fine well something serious
had happened. The doctor checked him.

You virtually grieve with him.

There's so little you can do
in that situation.

Now, this is known as
the "torture method".

It's not that bad.
- Yes, sure.

There were phases when I

really had to struggle hard
to bear it any longer.

It was a very difficult time,

when you keep on learning about
other things going on in the world,

to make the world a better place.

I have to say,
that cruciate ligament injury, it was...

That was the most painful thing.

I can reassure him,
and convince him with my therapy,

that it will work.
You just can't rush such a long process.

Sure, there's pressure from all sides.

The club says, "When will he be fit?
When can he play? We need him."

The manager asks how it's looking.
You're always discussing it.

You can't be swayed by that. As a
therapist, you must go your own way.

It's primarily about the player.
The rest is secondary.

Come on, Thomas, not so hard.
- It's always like this.

I kept telling Marco,
"You'll have to go beyond your limits.

And me beyond mine.

Because if we don't, you won't be able
to bend your knee the way you should."

Move your foot forward a bit.

When we're trying to integrate him
in team training again,

it's walking on the razor's edge.

But it's teamwork.
We have a good doctor, good physios.

We've worked together closely
and talked to Marco a lot.

You develop a feeling for it.

Enough.

Unfortunately Marco has
always had the problem

of being sidelined
too long and too often.

And now we finally have the scenario

where he's stayed free of injury
for a longer period of time,

Now we're seeing what can happen
when he can play for six months,

when he can make his mark on every match
and is involved in goals.

And above all, the development he's made
in terms of character.

He coy about it,
he doesn't like talking about it,

but it is a special honor for him
to be captain of Borussia Dortmund.

You sit on the outside feeling amazed
how well he's doing personally.

Not just his knee, but how he accepted
it and got over such a serious injury.

You celebrate in a different way.
I'm even more glad about every goal

than before. It's great to see
things are going so well.

Marco isn't only a player,
who makes a difference on the pitch.

He's also extremely important
in the dressing room.

He knows the club extremely well
and he plays a large part

in integrating young players and
new signings. He does that really well.

Marco is now living the role as captain.

He's grown with the responsibility.

You can see how much he enjoys it.
He's playing his best season ever.

It's absolutely world-class
the way he's playing.

It may be difficult, but to
achieve the impossible with the club,

like winning the Champions League,
it really motivates you.

That's why you go to the training
ground every day and try to improve.

The aim is also for Dortmund to
win the Bundesliga at some point.

That wouldn't only be
my childhood dream, it would be massive.

THE BUNDESLIGA TROPHY
WITHIN REACH FOR ALL OF BORUSSIA!

MARCO REUS HASN'T SCORED MORE
AGAINST ANY OTHER CLUB!

GERMAN CUP ROUND OF SIXTEEN

For the neutral, it was a festival.

It ticked all the boxes of
what you expect from a German Cup tie.

We knew from the start
it would be a difficult match.

As well as that, our top two
goalkeepers were out due to illness.

That was the day I'd been
longing for since I was a boy.

I'd been on the bench
for two Bundesliga games.

I got my first experience there.

Of course, I never imagined
that they would both be sidelined,

and that I'd be playing
my first professional match.

Maybe in my hopes or dreams,
but I wasn't really expecting it.

The first thing that
went through my head was,

"Cool, finally I get my chance."

But at the back of my mind
I could feel the tension.

Playing in front of 80,000,

and the icing on the cake,
it was against my old team.

I knew nearly all of the opposing team.

I'd told him, "Sometimes it's easier
to play in front of 80,000 than 5,000."

The game got off
to an unfortunate start for him.

He hadn't yet made a save,
and the deflected free kick went in.

Absolutely unstoppable.
Nothing he could do.

We were at home, conceded early.
In that situation we knew

they'd sit deeper, play on the counter,
making it harder for us to score.

Axel Witsel seems like someone
who's seen it all before,

who won't get ruffled
by any dicey situations.

Against Werder Bremen,
where not much was on for the team,

with few scoring opportunities,
he then drew that foul

just outside the penalty area.

He a crafty fox.
And that craftiness is an attitude,

which the team, for all its talent
in years gone by, has missed a bit.

It was a great position for a free kick,
both for me and for Rapha.

The referee said, "Marco,
this is the last play of the half."

And I thought,

"Either we come up with something,
or it's the old-fashioned way,

and we take a direct shot."

If it went over the wall and came down,
I knew it would be hard for the goalie,

because the ball was
extremely close to the goal.

So I needed to whip it in,
so the ball would fall nicely.

Marco Reus had to go off at half-time.
He had twinges in the adductor area.

The goal scorer,
the player wearing number 11,

Marco...
- Reus!

As a footballer you think
you're hardened, it won't be that bad.

I wanted to continue playing, of course.

At the start of the match
I noticed it was a bit worse.

In the second half, without Marco Reus,
you noticed something was lacking.

Eric Oelschlägel was exuding confidence,

and he even got a hand
to the free kick by Max Kruse,

which was hard to stop,
and saved us, so we got into extra time.

That game will have taken him
longer than two days to process!

When you score in extra time,
in the half-hour you have,

out on the pitch you start thinking,
"Okay, we've done it."

We were proved wrong. You have to
play till the 120th, the 125th minute,

and be at your maximum level,
to stay focused and win the match.

It was extremely bitter
for Eric Oelschlägel

that he didn't look good
when it went to 3:3.

That is a personal tragedy.

I don't think it will bowl him over,
but it is bitter for Borussia Dortmund.

It was our own fault,
And of course it's worst

when you're on the bench
and want to help the team yourself.

I knew from my time at Bremen
how lots of players take penalties.

I knew I'm quite good with penalties.

But overall, I have to admit
the Bremen penalty-takers were better.

You can play badly or have no chance,
but to lead twice in extra time,

then as the home team,
and also with the quality we have,

you have to see out the win
and not let it come down to penalties.

We failed to do that.
Overall, we didn't defend well enough.

It's annoying, to be honest, because we
wanted to progress in the competition.

No, we'll do it here.

We were playing Bremen. Tough opponents
for everyone this season.

They're hard to play against. Good team.
It was 3:3 in the end. We're out.

But Piszczek wasn't there.
Akanji wasn't there. Sancho was ill.

Marco went off at half-time.
Two goalkeepers weren't there...

No one's talking about that?