Dortmund hoping to take out domestic frustrations in UCL

Sport360 staff 08:00 01/10/2014
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  • Needs a win: Jurgen Klopp.

    Borussia Dortmund’s director of sport Michael Zorc has turned up the heat on his side ahead of their trip to Anderlecht in the Champi­ons League tonight.

    Saturday’s 2-1 derby defeat to Schalke was already their third reverse of the season in the Bun­desliga. That is the same number of times they were beaten in the entire 2011/12 campaign – the last time they won the domestic title.

    “We’ve got other problems right now without people talking about titles,” Zorc told Bild. “We want to beat Anderlecht first and then we’re practically obliged to beat Ham­burg in the Bundesliga.”

    BVB started well in Europe with a win over Arsenal last week and three more points in Belgium will put them in the driving seat in Group D.

    Elsewhere, Zenit St Petersburg boss Andre Villas-Boas has denied suggestions of a rift with Aleksandr Kerzhakov ahead of their clash with Monaco. The striker was axed for Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Spartak Moscow – the first points Zenit have dropped this season.

    But Villas-Boas said: “We don’t have any conflict, no. We had a talk before the match and I explained to him my reasons for not putting him in the line-up. Kerzhakov is a very strong player, a part of Zenit, and we expect that he will be training with us in the future, proving his right to be on the field.”

    Meanwhile, Bayer Leverkusen, beaten by Monaco last week, must beat Benfica tonight, according to boss Roger Schmidt.

    “You only get six games in the group stage, so it’s high time we started to win,” he said.

    Malmo play host to Olympiakos in Group A looking to get their first points of the campaign. 

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