German Cup: Marco Rose against his future club Dortmund

The DFB Pokal is the only worthy thing left for Borussia Monchengladbach. After five Bundesliga games without a win (first time since 2016/17), the Foals are almost gone from the Champions League race, and The Europa League is a bit tricky as well. They are playing the second leg in the Champions League with the hottest team in Europe – Manchester City, who already won 2-0 in the first match, so they won’t expect anything from that competition.

But, the DFB Cup is all but a sure deal. First of all, the names which are still in the hunt for the trophy are very strong: Dortmund, Leipzig, Wolfsburg, and Bremen, second, the Foals have three consecutive defeats, and third, today opponent is coach’s Marko Rose’s next club – Dortmund.

The decline in form started before he officially announced that he will leave at the end of the season to manage BVB, but after that – three straight defeats. Still, both clubs are clear to emphasize that the futures contract is a separate thing and that they are all professionals and will remain as such until the season ends.

“No, there won't be any contact between me and Marco before this match. We both have the big goal of making it to the semi-finals. Nobody was able to influence that this constellation now comes about" said Dortmund sports director Michael Zorc.

And Foals midfielder Jonas Hofmann dismissed talks about players' unrest after finding out that their manager will leave for the rival club.

"I'm pretty sure none of us are thinking about the change of coach at the moment. We have a lot of important games to play at the moment and that's what we're concentrating on. The team took Marco Rose's decision professionally. That has now been talked about often enough, so this topic can now be pushed aside. The coach is still fully committed and we know that he will give everything for the club until the end. Football is about results, and unfortunately, we haven't seen them in the last few weeks. Nevertheless, there is no point in falling into a negative mood now. We have to keep our heads up because we still have important games to play - the next one against Dortmund. That’s the focus. We’re going on and we really want to win the game and advance to the semi-finals“ said Hofmann after the 3-2 defeat in Leipzig.

„This is not Edin Terzić against Marco Rose“ mantra can be heard all week at Westfalhlenstadion. Dortmund doesn’t want any bad blood between their future coach and current caretaker.

BVB find their new manager: Marco Rose from Monchengladbach

Marco Rose put all his cards on this game, as he rested his stars Lars Stindl, Ramy Bensabaini, Alassane Plea, and Florian Neuhaus in a very important Bundesliga match with Leipzig. All four players saw limited action in a 3-2 defeat and will be ready for this match. Former Monchengladbach player Thorgan Hazard was back for Dortmund for the first time on Saturday after his injury, as did central defender Dan-Axel Zagadou, but it is not known will they start from the first minute. Roman Bürki and Lukasz Piszczek are also back to full training.

Gladbach are three-time DFB Cup winners and two-time runners-up. They are playing in the quarter-finals for the first time since 2016/17. Dortmund won their fourth DFB Cup in 2017/18 but was knocked out in the last 16 in the following three seasons. They beat Gladbach 2-1 in the 2019/20 second round, but the Foals won in Bundesliga this season 4-2.

GERMAN CUP QUARTERFINALS

Tuesday

20:30 SSV Jahn Regensburg - Werder Bremen POSTPONED

22:45 Borussia M'gladbach - Borussia Dortmund

Wednesday

20:30 Essen - Holstein Kiel

22:45 RB Leipzig - VfL Wolfsburg