Dubai: The outgoing coach of the Borussia Dortmund junior team is confident the senior team can overturn their 2-3 deficit against AS Monaco when the two teams meet in the return quarter-final leg of the Uefa Champions League on April 19.
Sunday’s third place play-off in the Hamdan Bin Mohammad U17 International Football Tournament was the last assignment for coach Christian Fluthmann.
In his last match in charge on Sunday, Fluthmann had the joy of seeing his young team beat AS Roma 3-1 to clinch third place. “Normally a team in never that geared up to play for a third place, but this side was keen on at least winning third and returning to Germany with the bronze medals as consolation,” Fluthmann revealed.
The cool and calm coach will now head back to Germany for his new assignment as analyst for the under-17 and under-19 teams. “Being a coach for the past 16 years has taught me so much and now it is time to move on. I am excited about my new assignment as technology is something that has always interested me. Last week’s bombing of the team bus didn’t help Dortmund, and neither did it help when Uefa asked them to play the match within 24 hours of the incident,” Fluthmann said.
“They did well to win against Frankfurt [in the Bundesliga] and I am now confident they can score in Monaco and advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League,” he added.