02 November 2015
Borussia Monchengladbach coach Andre Schubert has insisted that his side will set out to take maximum points from tomorrow evening’s Champions League match against Juventus.
The Foals enter the encounter bottom of Group D after two defeats and a draw from their first three games, yet Schubert, who has overseen six straight victories in the Bundesliga, stressed that his charges would look to make home advantage count in their bid to translate recent domestic successes into results on the European stage.
The 44-year-old began: “I don’t look at the table. We’re playing in front of our fans at home and we want to win. We’re fully focused on the game at hand and we’ll look at the group situation afterwards.
“Tomorrow sees two good sides play one another and we’ll look to make life difficult for Juventus, because it’s our aim to take maximum points.
“Juventus is a great club with outstanding individual talents so we need to adapt to their tactical flexibility, while we’ll also need to beat them man-for-man.”
When asked about the recipe to Borussia’s impressive record since his arrival as interim manager in late September, Schubert pointed out two main ingredients: their aggressive, high-pressing game and their rediscovered ability to play with a smile on their faces.
“When I arrived here we analysed the situation and understood that we needed to enjoy ourselves more both in training and in matches. This has been our approach from day one and we’ve kept concentration extremely high at the same time. The players are very alert on the pitch and talk a lot with one another.
“We’re attacking higher up the pitch, especially the full-backs, who are breaking from deep and getting into the penalty area, where it’s important to be able to finish.”
Sitting next to Schubert in the conference room was Ibrahima Traore and the right winger backed up his manager in pointing to the side’s renewed vim and vigour as an attacking force as a fundamental reason behind their surge up the Bundesliga table.
And the Guinea international stressed that the Foals would look to play with greater belief and adventure against the Bianconeri at Borussia-Park than they did two weeks ago in the goalless stalemate at Juventus Stadium.
“It’s true that we played a good game defensively in Turin without creating many opportunities in attack, at least a lot fewer than in recent Bundesliga outings.
“Perhaps we lacked a little bit of conviction in our own minds about our chances of winning, but tomorrow it will be a completely different story, since we’re at home and we know that we need the points to continue to dream.”
