Resurgent Dortmund seek consistency in top-four fight
BERLIN: Fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund host Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday hoping to keep their noses in front in their batle to finish in the Champions League placings.
Dortmund sit one point ahead of fith-placed RB Leipzig, having been six points behind the Saxons at Christmas.
Dortmund are a club heavily dependent on the income the Champions League brings, and have only missed the top four once in the past 13 years.
On Sunday, they face the same opposition against whom their season started to unravel last October.
Ater a chaotic and pulsating 3-3 draw in Frankfurt, Dortmund lost four of their next nine as clouds gathered around the future of coach
Edin Terzic. Five months later and Dortmund look to have steadied the ship, having lost just one of their past 14 and reaching the Champions League last eight.
But their strong results have come despite wildly inconsistent form -- sometimes during the same match.
Nowhere was this clearer than in Wednesday’s 2-0 Champions League win over PSV Eindhoven, where Dortmund swung from having complete control to hanging on for dear life.
Terzic was at a loss to explain his side’s inconsistency, telling DAZN “we played the best 30 minutes we played this season. Then in the second half, we completely stopped playing.
“We’re happy about the first half and frustrated about the second. We need to turn this phase from the first 30 minutes into a 90-minute performance.”
German League fixtures (1430 GMT unless stated)
Saturday: Wolfsburg vs Augsburg, Union Berlin vs Werder Bremen, Heidenheim vs Borussia Moenchengladbach, Darmstadt vs Bayern Munich, Mainz vs Bochum, Hoffenheim vs Stutgart (1730)
Sunday: Freiburg vs Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund vs Eintracht Frankfurt (1630)