On October 10 at 2:30 AM CET, Borussia Dortmund will host Werder Bremen in the fifth round of the Bundesliga. Ahead of the match, Borussia Dortmund head coach Niko Kovač held a press conference. This is the second part of that press conference.

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You just mentioned that Ryerson's situation still requires further observation. In fact, even before this collision, he was clearly experiencing physical fatigue or minor injury concerns. He was also substituted in the previous match. Your criticism of the congested schedule during this international break — isn't Ryerson's situation a perfect example of the serious injury risk this type of schedule poses to club players?

Yes, every player is eager to represent their national team, and that's completely understandable. In fact, every player wants to play every match from start to finish, but we must look at this from the club's perspective. Playing four consecutive matches is clearly too much. Now some might say, "Well, these are two concentrated match blocks." But I personally believe the best solution would be to spread it across three international breaks, with two matches played each time, because then players would only be away from the club for about 10 days, and you'd get them back.

This really gets to the heart of competition scheduling, and I fully understand the national team coaches because they also face immense pressure to deliver results, and there's no such thing as friendly matches anymore. Even the UEFA Nations League is now treated far more seriously than before. In the past, these periods were used for warm-up matches, giving young players opportunities, and trying new tactics, but now there's absolutely no room for experimentation. Yes, because you're constantly involved in high-intensity competitive matches like qualifiers and major tournaments.

Therefore, from the club perspective, scheduling four consecutive matches during an international break is simply... I would say completely unacceptable. Yes, because the problem we face now isn't just that we have injured or suspended players, but also that over these two and a half weeks, the club's existing match rhythm has been completely disrupted. This means we essentially have to start from scratch. We must do our best to quickly regain the excellent competitive rhythm we had before the break. Yes, this rhythm disruption risk exists for all clubs. I hope we can manage it well and deliver an outstanding performance in the upcoming match against Werder Bremen, secure the points we desperately need, and thus regain our competitive form and positive winning momentum.

Okay, I'd also like to follow up on the national team topic. Typically, when players are at the club, you gather detailed data to monitor each player's workload and physical condition. During national team duty, this direct monitoring obviously isn't possible. I assume you probably can't get real-time data directly. Can you briefly explain: have you now conducted follow-up lactate tests or medical fitness assessments to check each player's physical condition? Or how do you ensure that the players are indeed at their peak performance level? After all, a crucial and intense series of matches is coming. How do you ensure that players have recovered properly so they can be deployed when in peak condition?

Yes, we do exchange data. Our head of fitness, Professor Matthias Kadow, maintains close communication with all the relevant medical and fitness staff from the national teams. This means we receive all the training loads and GPS monitoring data they collected during national team duty. So we're very much aware of this data. However, of course, the national team's training load management and our training methods here at the club are completely different things, and the training rhythm players experience at the national team is also quite different from ours, but we have complete information.

We have excellent communication and data sharing with all parties. Going forward, we'll certainly use this information during the intensive nine-match period ahead to carefully allocate and control player workload, implementing scientific rotation and load management. Because no player — perhaps except the goalkeeper — will be able to play 90 minutes in nine consecutive matches; that's impossible. For the matches ahead, we must be very careful in managing workload.

Regarding the national team, Waldemar Anton played two consecutive 90-minute matches for the national team and, just like at Borussia Dortmund, kept clean sheets in both matches. What qualities do you most admire in him? What specific demands do you have for him, or in which areas do you think he still needs to improve? Second, he's not the type to rush to cameras and microphones for an interview right after a match. Is he also relatively quiet and reserved in the team? Or does he show a different side in the dressing room? What's his reputation internally?

Yes, regarding "Waldi," I've commented extensively. And I'm very happy to repeat it, because he's earned all of this through sweat and hard work; it's well-deserved praise. He's a "silent leader," a player who truly understands what professionalism means, who knows how to consistently deliver high-level, even elite athletic performance. He knows how to lead the team forward, how to guide young players in their development, and how to push and motivate his teammates.

He was outstanding in those two national team matches, and he felt it himself. The national team coach also saw it that way, or rather, the national team coach personally conveyed his appreciation to me. So Waldi is really someone who operates fairly quietly away from the spotlight, because he never deliberately shows off or boasts. He simply goes about his work quietly, and he does it to an extraordinarily high, world-class standard. Therefore, I'm very pleased to see him get the opportunity to play two full matches for the national team, and I think he really delivered two very high-quality national team performances.

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