When SV Werder travel to the Signal Iduna Park at the weekend, the atmosphere will be electric. Werder fans can be forgiven for looking back at their last trip to Dortmund and hoping they can pull off a similar victory to the 2-1 win 12 months ago. Nuri Sahin and Thomas Delaney both played in that game, but for different teams.
It will be a special reunion for both players. Thomas Delaney will play his first game against his former employers, who gave him his first chance in German football. This is also the case for Nuri Sahin. The 30-year-old, who was subbed on for BVB in the game last December against Werder, will face his boyhood club for the first time. It will be a special game but not just for these two players.
“The game in Dortmund has more significance for me as well. Apart from the Weser Stadion, I have never experienced such emotion in any Bundesliga ground,” said Werder head coach Florian Kohfeldt. Kohfeldt did not want to talk too much about Thomas Delaney but he said: “I hope the game does not go so well for Thomas but afterwards we will definitely be giving each other a hug again.”
Sahin knows BVB better than most people which will certainly be an advantage come Saturday. “I have spoken with Nuri and will chat to him again. He knows the team and took part in their pre-season training, which can only be a good thing for us,” explained Kohfeldt. “I will chat to him about tactics and more in depth ideas than I would normally discuss with my players.”
Captain Max Kruse also knows the BVB head coach well. He worked with Lucien Favre at Gladbach between 2013 and 2015. Kohfeldt revealed: “I have spoken to Max and chatted about how Favre makes changes during the game.”
