U23s to face Viktoria Köln at the Rote Erde

An all North Rhine-Westphalian affair in the 3. Liga: Borussia Dortmund's U23s will host FC Viktoria Köln at Stadion Rote Erde on Saturday (14:00 CET).

The U23s will return to action following a fixture-free weekend in the international break: the Black & Yellows will be looking to get back on track following their recent defeats to the top teams from Dresden and Saarbrücken.

The aim is also to put an end to a negative streak against the Cathedral City outfit, as they did by winning at home against Freiburg II a month ago. BVB were also winless on home turf against the Breisgau side - before Michael Eberwein ended the run by sealing a 1-0 victory.

The U23s have not yet registered a home win against FC Viktoria Köln in any of their previous six attempts. If that drought were to end, it would be a major statement for the Black & Yellows; FC Viktoria are regarded by many pundits to be the secret favourites for promotion.

BVB coach Jan Zimmermann would like to build on the performance from the game in Saarbrücken. "We played a really good away game there. I want to see the courage we showed there again."

The international break did the Black & Yellows good. After a challenging pre-season that saw numerous players either promoted to the Bundesliga squad or ruled out by injury, Zimmermann used the time without competitive matches to work on refining procedures with his team in peace. "It's a process," emphasised the coach, adding: "Every training sessions helps us."

Next opponents FC Viktoria Köln currently occupy seventh place with eight points on the board. But after starting the season with two victories, the team are now winless in three matches. Meanwhile, the Rhineland outfit pulled off an upset and beat Werder Bremen 3-2 in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. Markus Brzenska, a former Black & Yellow, has been working as the assistant to head coach Olaf Janßen at the Cathedral City side for more than five years.

BVB will still be without the injured Prince Aning, Dennis Lütke-Frie, Jonah Husseck and Moses Otuali against Viktoria Köln.
Daniel Mertens