Before kick-off, head coach Niko Kovac and team captain Emre Can talked about the game and the opposition.

“We can expect a heated atmosphere. And a very strong, technically sound opposition who will challenge us when they have the ball,” said Kovac at the press conference, adding: ”We have to work together in a highly concentrated manner for the full 90 minutes. I am confident that we will come through tomorrow.”

The new head coach is encouraged by the fact that his team are pulling together: “We saw some promising elements against Stuttgart. We've shown in training and on video how we'd like to play. We just need to implement that, we just need to make the right decisions. We'll get there.”

Captain Emre Can shared his reflections between the game against Stuttgart and that away to Sporting: “We played well, but in the end it's about winning. And we didn't manage that. But dwelling on the negatives won't get us anywhere. We have to see the positives. I believe that we can turn things around. The Champions League is a different beast. We have already delivered good performances in this competition. We still have quality, even if we have not always shown it in recent weeks. We are capable of beating Sporting!”

Borussia Dortmund are facing the title holders and current leaders of the Portuguese league. “Like our opponents, we will also have to try to shut down their top striker,” said Kovac on the subject of Viktor Gyökeres (22 goals in 20 league games, six goals in seven Champions League matches). The BVB head coach had only words of praise for Sporting: “It's remarkable to be top in Portugal, because there are two other top teams: Benfica and Porto.” Kovac sees “high quality, not just a top striker, but many good players in the team” and expects “a difficult task. But my team are well prepared. It's the first of two games. We want to get a good result tomorrow, a good launching position to reach the next round”.