Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels has taken a swipe at his teammates for their recent defensive displays ahead of the Europa League meeting with Rangers.
The veteran German international, 33, was speaking following his side’s 3-0 away victory at Union Berlin on Sunday which provided a welcome clean sheet as well as the three points after their previous Bundesliga encounter, a 2-5 reverse at home to Bayer Leverkusen.
In particular, Hummels made very pointed comments about his team’s failings in defence contributing to their faltering title bid with perennial leaders Bayern able to coast along in second gear:
“Honestly, I’m glad that we were able to increase the gap on the fifth-placed team. In order to compete with a team like Bayern Munich, we have to bring a lot more to the pitch.”
“When I watched us against Bayer Leverkusen, I didn’t see too many players who were interested in defending.”
“It’s clear we didn’t listen to what our manager had told us before the Leverkusen game. If you are serious about challenging, you can’t play that way.”
“Against Union, we had more stability because we had defensive midfielders helping us. Maybe at some point in the future we can dream, but I don’t see that happening at the moment.”
Form
It’s difficult to predict which Dortmund will show up against the Scottish champions.
Their streaky form means they are very hot when on it, but Marco Rose’s team also leak a lot of goals. As well as that defeat to Leverkusen, they also had a recent German Cup loss to second tier St Pauli. Across their last five games they have only managed one clean sheet, with a total of 1o goals conceded in the other four.
It is clear that Rangers will get chances in Thursday’s first leg but keeping the tie alive for the second leg at Ibrox is the aim – depending on which defence is most tested this week.