FILE PHOTO: Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovac before FIFA Club World Cup quarter final against Real Madrid, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S. - July 5, 2025 REUTERS/Lee Smith/File Photo
BERLIN -Borussia Dortmund must kick off their German Cup campaign with a commanding performance against third-tier club Rot-Weiss Essen on Monday, with the domestic competition being the shortest path to a title, coach Niko Kovac said on Friday.
Dortmundare starting thedomestic season with Monday's first round match while theiropponents already have two third-division league matches under their belt.
"We want to advance. We are playing a third division club, playing away, with a good atmosphere," Kovac told a press conference. "We will have to work but we have clear goals of advancing. The shortest way to the title is the German Cup."
Dortmund will also be competing in this season's Champions League after finishing fourth last season. The Bundesliga season kicks off next week with Dortmund travelling to StPauli in eight days.
"It is always an advantage if you have two competitive matches under your belt," said the coach of their Cup opponents Essen. "We are now in the third training week. I am not sayingwe don't havean advantage. Quite the opposite. But they have already played (a couple of) 90 consecutiveminutes."
Kovac's Dortmund had a shortened preparation this season after reaching the quarter-finals in the Club World Cup in the United States in July.
"We would have wished a couple of more weeks of preparation work. We are happy to have been part of the Club World Cup ... andthere are no alibis. We know of the responsibility we have," he said.
"It's a third-tier team but it is a professional team," Kovac said. "We will take them very seriously and then we have a chance to advance. If we think it will come by itself, it can turn out to be a very difficult evening."
(Reporting by Karolos GrohmannEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
