Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp is banking on home advantage to overturn a 2-1 first leg deficit in the first knockout round of the Champions League on Wednesday night.
In what promises to be another special Champions League night at the Signal Iduna Park, the Bundesliga club will be hoping to progess to the next round with their hopes of qualifying for the competition next season hanging by a thread following a disastrous start to the season.
They lie in 10th spot with just nine game left to play in the league but Klopp is hopeful that they can progress to the quarter-finals.
We face the greatest challenge there is in football, to score against an Italian team that will advance with a 0-0 draw,” Klopp told reporters in his pre-match press conference.
a Wea re ready for anything, but we must remain calm, as we conceded a goal on the break in the first leg.
a Juve are not unbeatable, but wea ll have to make sure we dona t repeat the mistakes we made two weeks ago.
“I do not know if it will be an exciting match to the very end. But if we create tension, it will mean that we will still be in the running.”
“Our stadium is a special place that offers special moments. Ita s really the greatest thing in this club, and each time I go there I feel the goosebumps.”
a Theya re a team that plays football, yes they might be tough too, but in that situation the referee will intervene.
a I dona t have any particular desires tomorrow. Many remember May 28, 1997 [when Dortmund beat Juventus 3-1 in the Champions League final], it was a beautiful moment, but it wona t help tomorrow.”
Dortmund played out a stalemate at Koln though Klopp stressed on the fact that there was room for improvement.
“One should not see this result too negatively,” he said. “The only good thing from the Cologne result was that we saw what didn’t work.
“We can do better, we have already shown that.”
“The aim remains to reach the Champions League’s quarter-finals and the boys can do it.”