Preview: It is never too late to revive a Season
It is inappropriate to think that a team’s season could end in November. Dortmund’s season after all does not entirely depend on beating Bayern or winning the Bundesliga. A second place finish or even a top four finish would keep them moving steadily to a more stable future. However, Dortmund’s season does massively depend on the UEFA Champions League. An early loss would lead to losing out on millions in terms of Champions League money and potentially losing more stars
After all, a second place finish in the league and a place in the Champions League final was not good enough to keep Mario Götze in the club; it was not good enough to extend Robert Lewandowski’s deal either. This surely makes it easy to see why dropping out of the Champions League early is definitely unhealthy for the growth of everyone’s favorite second team.
“Echte liebe” – True Love; the club’s slogan was definitely proved when the fans sang together as Bayern put three past them in the second half of their encounter in Dortmund’s very own Signal Iduna Park this weekend. Injuries have caused enormous problems to Jürgen Klopp’s team. A thin squad has been left withered due to bad luck. However, BVB fared well against Bayern despite the absences of Lukasz Piszczek, Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic, Ilkay Gündogan and Marcel Schmelzer. They conceded the last two goals very late on in the match and definitely had chances to equalize with the score at 0-1.
Of the aforementioned injury list, only Piszczek might be back in contention for this one. Manuel Friedrich, who featured against Bayern, is ineligible for Champions League play. Hence, either Sebastian Kehl or Sven Bender will have to play there. Aside from the injury problems, Dortmund’s altogether larger problem might be the forms of Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Reus has not played as well or finished as well as he did last season. He has played on without a break this season; this might be the cause. Mkhitaryan has simply not gelled; he drifts in and out of games.
It seems it is up to Robert Lewandowski to save the day unless Gonzalo Higuain strikes at the other end.
Higuain is available for Rafael Benitez. However Juan Zuniga, Giandomenico Mesto and the hugely influential Marek Hamsik are not. Napoli will most likely play on the counterattack. They surely know about Dortmund’s defensive problems. They also perhaps know that the Ruhr side has constantly struggled to break down opposition which parks the proverbial bus in front of goal and plays on the counterattack.
The equation for Napoli is simple – win or draw and qualification is guaranteed. Benitez would do well to prey on the helplessness of the opposition who undoubtedly need to win the match. Napoli is coming into this match in the back of two losses in Serie A. Dortmund is coming into this one on the back of three losses in all competitions. Klopp invited a sports psychologist to talk to his boys. May be that is exactly what this team needs if they are to overcome the growing force from Italy.
Where to watch the match: Live Streams, Live Scores, Start Times, TV Channels
Watch Borussia Dortmund vs. Napoli live on Tuesday, November 26, 2013:
In Canada at 14:45 ET on Sportsnet World Online
In the UK at 19:45 BST on Sky Sports Red Button, Sky Sports Events Centre
In the USA at 14:45 ET on Fox Soccer 2Go
German viewers can switch on Sky Sport 1 HD to watch the match.
For the complete TV listings and live scores upon kick-off, visit the Dortmund-Napoli match page.
