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BORUSSIA Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin said he still felt the trust from his players but would talk to club bosses after Tuesday’s shock 2-1 loss to Bologna in the Champions League.
The defeat stretched their losing run to four games across all competitions.
Sahin, who took over this season, had already been under mounting pressure going into the game with his team having lost all three of their Bundesliga matches in 2025.
After going 1-0 up in Bologna, Dortmund conceded two goals in two minutes midway through the second half to drop to 13th place in the league phase of the competition, with one match remaining.
The top eight teams advance to the round of 16, with the next 16 going into playoffs.
“The plan was definitely not to play passively,” Sahin told a press conference.
His team played a solid first half but eased off after the break, allowing the Italians, who had scored just one goal in their previous six matches in the competition, to come back.
A result which saw them earn their first ever victory in the Champions League.
“No,” Sahin said when asked whether he had talked to Dortmund managing director Lars Ricken.
“I think today or tomorrow we will sit down. The game is too fresh. It is clear we have to win games but now have lost four in a row. We will see.”
Dortmund, finalists in the Champions League last season, have dropped to 10th place in the Bundesliga after their losing start to the year, putting next season’s participation in Europe’s premier club competition at risk.
“This is not about me. If I am the problem, if a coach change would solve all problems so be it.
“We have to deliver and the fact is we have now lost four matches in a row,” Sahin said.
“Even a point would have been important on the road to a top-eight finish. It is not about me but about the club Borussia Dortmund.”
Sahin said that despite the bad run he still felt he had the support of his players.
“I would not stay a second longer if the team did not trust me.
“In any club in the past or future, it is a fact that I would not stay a second longer if I felt the team was not behind me,” he said. (Reuters/NAN)
22nd January, 2025.
C.E.
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