{"id":1159058,"date":"2026-02-16T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T18:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/?p=1159058"},"modified":"2026-02-16T13:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T18:45:00","slug":"niko-kovac-discusses-options-to-replace-injured-centre-backs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/niko-kovac-discusses-options-to-replace-injured-centre-backs\/","title":{"rendered":"Niko Kovac discusses options to replace injured centre-backs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Niko Kovac discusses options to replace injured centre-backs<\/p>\n

On Monday morning<\/a>, Borussia Dortmund confirmed that Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas S\u00fcle will miss Tuesday\u2019s Champions League knockout phase play-off clash with Atalanta due to injury.<\/p>\n

With Emre Can and Filippo Man\u00e9 already sidelined, the Black and Yellows have four centre-backs unavailable heading into the game, leaving them short of options at the back.<\/p>\n

However, BVB head coach Niko Kovac is confident he can find a solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the coach\u2019s job to find solutions and be creative. Our past experience shows that we always have options ready,\u201d Kovac said at Monday\u2019s pre-match press conference when asked about his defensive options.<\/p>\n

\u201cJulian [Ryerson] has played in central defence against Juventus, and Salih [\u00d6zcan] could also be deployed there. If necessary, we can even adjust the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eighteen-year-old Luca Reggiani, who came on to replace S\u00fcle at half-time in Friday\u2019s 4-0 win over Mainz, is another alternative. However, it’s doubtful if Kovac will hand the inexperienced youngster a start in what he expects to be a demanding encounter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAtalanta have a great team and have developed over the years. They won the Europa League two years ago,\u201d Kovac said.<\/p>\n

“It will be man-to-man all over the pitch and very intense. There will be moments where we can exploit space to create opportunities, but they are a very strong opponent. I see the chances as 50:50.”<\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/niko-kovac-discusses-options-replace-134500276.html<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Niko Kovac discusses options to replace injured centre-backs On Monday morning, Borussia Dortmund confirmed that Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas S\u00fcle will miss Tuesday\u2019s Champions League…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1159059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1159058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1159058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1159059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1159058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1159058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1159058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}