Looking back obviously brings little joy. When asked about his feelings before reuniting with his former club Borussia Dortmund, Peter Bosz reacted rather coldly.
“I wasn’t there that long. I respect the club, but I want to beat them,” replied the PSV Eindhoven football teacher before the first leg of both teams’ round of 16 first leg today (9 p.m./Amazon Prime Video) in the Philips Stadium to his six-month term in Dortmund until December 2017.
“You have to trust yourself”
Although his team leads the domestic league confidently and undefeated, BVB goes into both games as favorites. But the fourth place in the Bundesliga probably won’t have it as easy as FC Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Eindhoven at the start of the group phase of the premier class. “In the weeks that followed, I felt that we had developed. That’s why we’re here now in the round of 16,” said Bosz, whose team moved into the knockout rounds as second in the group ahead of Lens and Sevilla.
The former Dortmund and Leverkusen coach is absolutely convinced of the quality of his squad. “This is the best team I’ve ever worked with. And I’ve been doing the job for a few years,” he enthused. That’s why he sees no reason to hide in the showdown with Borussia: “You have to have the courage to play football. Otherwise you have no chance. We have to show the football we play all year long against BVB.”
Praise for Julian Brandt
He has particularly fond memories of his time in Germany of BVB professional Julian Brandt, whom he coached in Leverkusen: “A great player. I hope he doesn’t play against us.”
The 60-year-old seems to have more heart for the factory club than for BVB, where he sat on the coaching bench between 2019 and 2021. He commented with obvious pleasure on the recent rise of the Bayer team, which is currently still undefeated in the Bundesliga: “I’ve worked longer there. That makes me really happy. Hopefully they’ll manage to prevent Bayern from becoming champions. The play really good football.”
