Kovac wary of Augsburg as UCL chase continues
Borussia Dortmund could take another step towards securing UEFA Champions League football for next season when it faces in-form Augsburg this weekend in the Bundesliga, but Niko Kovac insists his side hasn't achieve anything just yet.
Dortmund is currently 11 points behind league leader Bayern Munich in second, but Kovac's side looks set to qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season.
Unless it produces a stunning comeback in the title race, Dortmund is unlikely to win any trophies after its UEFA Champions League and DFB-Pokal exits to Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen respectively.
Dortmund has accumulated 55 points after 25 Bundesliga games this season, its best return at this stage in seven years, when it had 57 points in 2018-2019.
A win against Augsburg would see Dortmund surpass its total points haul from the entire Bundesliga season in 2024-2025 (57), which Kovac is eager to achieve.
"We haven't achieved anything yet. We have 55 points, which is two points fewer than at the end of last season," Kovac said.
"There are still 27 points up for grabs. To achieve our goals, i.e. to qualify for the [UEFA] Champions League, we still need to pick up a few more points.
"We, as the coaching team and staff, will do everything we can to ensure that the lads remain focused. You could see that in training today as it was pretty intense."
Augsburg will provide a stern test for Dortmund, with the visitors having won five of their past seven league games.
That run started with a 2-1 win over Bayern at Allianz Arena, and Kovac anticipates a tough task for his side.
"It's a team that has stabilised, concedes very little, scores very few goals, is very compact and plays very intense and aggressive football," the Dortmund boss added.
"They are a team that will certainly challenge us."
