Borussia Dortmund coach Marco Rose explained that Erling Haaland knows he is still missing an edge following his return from injury but has complete confidence in the striker.
Haaland started for the first time since January 22 on Sunday, as Dortmund were held to a 1-1 draw at Cologne to dent their hopes of mounting a Bundesliga title challenge.
“I’ll start with Erling,” Rose told a news conference:
“I think the game was important for Erling. But, of course, it would help if you created chances, which he did once today with a big one.
“He had a good game. I briefly talked to him, and he knows he’s still missing something. But I think we’re on a good path, and he will score again if he returns healthy from the international break.”
During that run, Dortmund is unbeaten in their last six Bundesliga games but have dropped valuable points against Augsburg and now Cologne, allowing Bayern Munich – who thrashed Union Berlin 4-0 on Saturday – to move six points clear at the top.
“I just said it in the interview outside. I will play this game with you. If we lose a game, you say, ‘you screwed up, then we win a game, and Bayern drops points, and I get asked if we are involved again in the title race,” Rose said.
“So, it’s almost a running gag now. We like to be up there and want to win games. We didn’t win, so we are disappointed. The result of not winning football games is that the gap between Bayern and us is growing.
“But we also already had game days like last week where we got closer. We have seven more games after the international break. We play [RB] Leipzig at home in a sold-out stadium. Also, We want to get the maximum out of this season.”
Likewise, for more football news like this, click here.
