“The lads are bursting with energy”

Dino Toppmöller on ...

… the game at Dortmund: “We’re looking forward to a wonderful away game, in front of 80,000 fans in a great stadium, against the Bundesliga runners-up and Champions League quarter-finalists. Dortmund have incredible quality [but] we’re also in good form at the moment. It goes without saying that we want to put in a good performance. The lads have been bursting with energy during the week. Sunday, 5:30pm, floodlights - what could be better?”

… training this week: “Hugo Ekitiké has completed his first full week of training and is another good option in attack. All the lads are ready.”

… upcoming opponents Borussia Dortmund: “We know what to expect – we’re facing an incredibly good side. Their results this year have been very consistent. I’ve seen a lot of BVB games recently – in many of them, they were better than the result suggests. We have great respect for our opponents. They have great individual quality, whether it’s [Jadon] Sancho, [Niclas] Füllkrug, [Marco] Reus or [Julian] Brandt. It’s going to be a big task.”

… Eintracht’s approach: “We have our own strengths. We produced one of our best performances [of the season] against BVB earlier this season. We’ll need incredible discipline with and without the ball, as well as good positional play. Otherwise it’ll be difficult to defend against Dortmund’s high tempo in transition. It’s going to be an interesting game. We’re convinced we’re a match for any opponent in the Bundesliga. We also need the courage to develop good dynamism when we’re being put under pressure with the ball at the back. It’s clear that Dortmund have one or two weaknesses. We won’t retreat into our shells, but we can’t go full throttle in attack for 90 minutes either. We have to find a good balance in all phases of the game.”