Kovac demands Dortmund full focus to grasp Champions League chance

Niko Kovac warned Borussia Dortmund must have full focus on their final two Bundesliga games as they look to secure European football next season.

Dortmund thrashed Wolfsburg 4-0 to boost their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League on Saturday, with a fifth Bundesliga win from their last six matches leaving them in fourth spot.

Fifth-place Freiburg are on the same points as BVB, who will be hoping for a favour from Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.

"We will always raise our fingers and warn. We have two important games left, and we have to take these games very seriously because there is still a lot to be gained," Dortmund boss Kovac said.

"We want to be involved in international competitions."

Serhou Guirassy, who took his league tally to 19, and Karim Adeyemi were the stars of the show at Signal Iduna Park, with each of them scoring twice.

Guirassy is just the second player to score 18+ goals in consecutive Bundesliga seasons for two different clubs (having scored 28 for Stuttgart last term) after Timo Konietzka (22 for Dortmund in 1964-65 and 26 for 1860 Munich in 1965-66).

"An important win in a very important game, and I think all the results were pretty good for us today," Guirassy told Sky Sport Germany.

"That's why this game was so important. We know that we have to take on responsibility. And today we did it.

"The first half wasn't so good, but the second was a lot better. I hope we finish the season with two wins against Leverkusen and then at home against Kiel."

What a day! pic.twitter.com/zDoBK7MYEy
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) May 3, 2025

There were concerns over a knee injury for the Dortmund talisman, but he added: "I'm not injured, I took a knock, but it's nothing serious. I'll be there next week."

Leverkusen visit Dortmund next Sunday, though the title race could already be over by that point, even if Xabi Alonso's side beat Freiburg.

Bayern Munich will have the chance to seal the title at home to Borussia Monchengladbach next Saturday, or the crown will be confirmed on Sunday if Leverkusen do not claim all three points this weekend.

Pascal Gross sees the last two games as an opportunity to atone for what has been a poor season up to this point.

"For a long time, we've been falling short of our expectations but now I'm increasingly going home with a good feeling," Gross said.

"The past few weeks have been very positive, and not just because of the results. We are stable and can hurt our opponents. Excluding Barcelona away from home, we've been on a run for a few weeks now.

"The basics are back. Everyone is making runs in behind. That gets the opponent's defence moving. That creates gaps, and then our quality can assert itself.

"That's how we put the competition under pressure. We'll try to get six points - and then we'll see where we stand. We were a long way off, now we're back in a place where finishing fourth is possible."