Borussia Dortmund must take confidence from their 6-0 demolition of Union Berlin in the Bundesliga when they travel to face St. Pauli in Saturday's league clash. (More Football News)
Tꦺhose were the words of head coach Niko Kovac ahead of his first ever meeting with St. Pauli, with🎐 the Croatian hoping to mark the occasion with a victory.
▨Dortmund find themselves 10th in the Bundesliga standings after 23 games of their season, but are just six points adrift of a European pl🅷ace for next year.
After earning🐈 his first league win ♎since taking charge of Dortmund at the third attempt last time out, Kovac will be looking to guide BVB to consecutive wins for the first time this term.
"Th♐e way we won against ༒Union was very important. We played dynamically, aggressively and intensely," Kovac told reporters.
&qu𝓡ot;That shows the players we can still do it. If we play as a team and as a unit, we'll get points.
"We have to build on this now. They (St 🌳Pauli) don't necessarily score a lot of🌄 goals, but they also concede very few.
"♋That means we ha▨ve to do a lot to create chances - because they are very compact.
"We saw it in the last gameꦦ, the more chances you create, the higher the probability that you will score goals."
St. Pauli have only won one of their last 13 competitive meetings with Dortmund (D1 L11), but did em🍃erge victorious in their last home game against them in January 2022.
It has been away from home, however, where D🍸ortmund have struggled this season. They have collected only eight points on their travels so far.
Only Holstein Kiel and Bochum have been worse on the road in 2024-25, with the ๊sides occupying the bottom two in the division♍ taking just three points away from home.
And BVB's hopes of 🍬just a thir𓂃d success on their travels this campaign have been boosted by the return of Julian Brandt, who missed their 6-0 win over Union.
"He is an alternative for tomorr🐭ow. A muscle thing like that is not always completely without danger. We will havﷺe to make the right decisions," Kovac said.
"Felix Nmecha is still not there. Julian Ryerson had a mild flu infection. We had him in training, but he didn't feel like he could t🀅ake part. He won't be in the matchday squad tomorrow."
Kovac also praiꦅsed midfielder Marcel Sabitzer's performances in recent games, saying:𒊎 "With his technique, his calmness and his overview, he can control a lot.
"He🉐 has a clean passing game and is tough in tackles. He's a link player between defence and attack - an important pꦬlayer for us."
After facing St. Pauli, Dortmund host Ligue 1 club Lille in a Champions League last-16 first leg clash on Tue🍰sday.
