Bayern Munich’s Spanish head coach Pep Guardiola.
DPA/Berlin
Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich are aiming to continue recent strong form in the German Cup this midweek as they face lower league opposition in the last 16 today and tomorrow.
Reigning cup holders Bayern welcome second division Eintracht Braunschweig Wednesday, a day after Dortmund - beaten finalists last season - travel to third division shock specialists Dynamo Dresden.
Dynamo are not performing spectacularly in the league but have already eliminated Dortmund’s local rivals Schalke from the cup and also knocked out another Ruhr side, Bochum, from the second division.
But Dortmund have now won four consecutive Bundesliga games to surge up the table on Saturday picked up a crushing derby win, 3-0 over Schalke.
“I have always said that our problem was lack of confidence,” captain Mats Hummels said. “Now everyone of us knows how good they can play again.”
Lukasz Piszczek is unavailable for the tie having injured his ankle against Juventus in the Champions League last midweek and coach Juergen Klopp could consider some rotation to protect his squad which has suffered its fair share of injury this season.
Bayern have recovered from losing to Wolfsburg in their first competitive game in 2015 with a six-match unbeaten run in all competitions.
They welcome Braunschweig, relegated from the top flight last season, but must be aware to avoid the complacency which occasionally was apparent in their 4-1 victory over Cologne on Friday.
“I saw incidents that could have led to a rude awakening against other opponents,” sport director Matthias Sammer said. “The knockout matches are coming and that’s when you can’t afford slip-ups.”
One of the players who made errors in the game was defender Jerome Boateng and he paid tribute to keeper Manuel Neuer for sparing Bayern’s blushes.
“We’re obviously all delighted we have him in goal,” he told the Bayern homepage in an interview. “In my opinion there’s simply no better keeper, as he demonstrates every week.
“We’re on track, but we need to keep working towards concentrating for the full 90 minutes and turning in a top performance. If we can do that, I’m confident we’ll go through in the cup and the Champions League.”
