Berlin (AFP) – Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre is urging the injury-hit Bundesliga leaders to quickly recover from their Champions League mauling at Tottenham Hotspur with another big win over bottom side Nuremberg on Monday.
Nuremberg were thrashed 7-0 at Signal Iduna Park when the sides last met in September and Dortmund could do with another thumping win to restore flagging confidence.
Dortmund are winless in their last four games in all competitions after going down 3-0 at Wembley against Spurs on Wednesday, leaving them with a mountain to climb in their Champions League last 16, return leg at home on March 5.
Favre is desperate for his team to rediscover some form to restore their five-point lead over second-placed Bayern Munich, who beat Augsburg 3-2 on Friday.
“We need to keep playing the way we have done, but with more patience,” said Favre on Saturday.
“We’re getting goal chances, we’re creating them well, but we need to stop conceding.
“We have to correct that.”
Dortmund will be missing several key players on Monday with Marco Reus, who missed the Spurs defeat, still sidelined along with defenders Lukasz Piszczek and Manuel Akanji.
However, striker Paco Alcacer and defender Julian Weigl should be back.
Director of sport Michael Zorc insists Bayern’s win at Augsburg, which has pegged Dortmund’s lead back to just two points, “plays no role for us”.
The league leaders, who conceded three late goals last Saturday in a 3-3 home draw with Hoffenheim, need to put their week to forget behind them.
“We also made mistakes in the first half of the season – it’s just now we are being punished for each one,” said Zorc.
“We aren’t getting much luck at the moment, but we won’t be changing everything around.
“The senses have been sharpened, we will do everything to get back to winning ways.”
This will be Nuremberg’s first game since sacking both sports director Andreas Bornemann and head coach Michael Koellner on Tuesday following a run of 15 league games without a win.
Caretaker coaches Marek Mintal and Boris Schommers will be on the Nuremberg bench.
