Article by Alexandru Tomuțiu – Published Thursday, October 30, 2025, 6:35 p.m. / Updated Thursday, October 30, 2025, 6:37 p.m.
Borussia Dortmund manager Niko Kovac (54) feels sorry for his Augsburg counterpart Sandro Wagner but wants his side to get the three points in Friday's Bundesliga clash.
Dortmund are fourth in the table and have just one defeat in all competitions, while Augsburg are 15th. The team suffered a heavy defeat at home in the Bundesliga at the weekend, losing 6-0 to RB Leipzig, and were also knocked out of the German Cup by second division side Bochum in midweek.
As a result, pressure is mounting on former Germany assistant Sandro Wagner, who began his first Bundesliga coaching experience in the summer but won just three of his ten official games with Augsburg.
Niko Kovac, before Augsburg – Dortmund: “There are two types of coaches. Those who have been fired and those who will be fired”
“There are two types of coaches. Those who have been fired and those who will be fired. This is our job. It is relatively easy when you are successful. But when you are not, it becomes much more difficult,” Kovac said, according to sportal.bg. He knows this from experience, having left Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg prematurely. At Dortmund, things are going well for now, but he knows from experience that you should never underestimate an opponent.
“Augsburg's situation is definitely not the easiest at the moment. But that doesn't mean it will be easy for us. We have to be at 100%. We want to win the game, that's our ambition, our goal,” he said.
Borussia Dortmund needed a penalty shoot-out to eliminate Eintracht Frankfurt from the German Cup, and Ramy Bensebaini also returns from injury. With a trip to Manchester City in the Champions League next week, Kovac said: “we have to rotate the players if we want to keep the intensity high.”
