Know Thine Enemy: Borussia Dortmund-Atlético Madrid Q&A with Fear the Wall

Borussia Dortmund are lighting the Bundesliga on fire, with six wins from eight and a whopping 27 goals from those games. What’s the secret behind their fast start?

Everything is clicking perfectly for Dortmund right now. While we don’t always look great in the first half, this team has been able to rally and flip a switch at will. Marco Reus is in the best form he has ever been in. Jadon Sancho may be the best teenager in Europe not in Paris. Axel Witsel stabilizes a midfield that has struggled in the past. For now things are looking great for BVB, a team that has had issues every fall since Jürgen Klopp’s last year.

Paco Alcácer was a Barcelona flop, but he’s scored nearly every time he’s touched the ball in Germany. Who or what has revitalized him?

In an interview with Kicker, Paco credited Reus with letting him succeed. I think overall Dortmund is just a very welcoming atmosphere and anyone who has talent will get to show and grow it.

The Yellow Wall produces one of the more fearsome atmospheres in football. How does one prepare to experience something like that?

Simple. Adult diapers.

What troubles you most (if anything) about taking on Atlético Madrid?

They are the most organized team in the world. Dortmund have always struggled against sides when they play lockdown football against them. And that’s usually bottom-half teams — a top tier team like Atlético may really stop us in our tracks.

Lucien Favre and Diego Simeone are two coaches cut from different cloths. Make the case for why Favre will win this battle of wits.

Oh man, I’m not sure I’m ready to give Favre full credit for Dortmund’s start. He has been stubborn making some changes and our recent form comes from some wild xG outperformance. However, he has proved to be a wizard revitalizing strikers in the past (see Mario Balotelli), so I do give him some Paco credit.

Scoreline prediction?

1-0 BVB. This one is gonna be ugly.