Dortmund have no sympathy for Schalke

(GSM) – Borussia Dortmund general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke has admitted that he has no sympathy for struggling bitter rivals Schalke 04.

Despite the signings of Raul, Jurado and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar over the summer, Die Königsblauen have made the worst possible start to their Bundesliga campaign with three defeats in their first three games.

Contrastingly, Dortmund have won two of their first three matches as they head for the Gelsenkirchen derby on Sunday.

And Watzke did not miss the chance to criticise the big spending rivals ahead of the showdown.

“The club who spends the most money is not automatically the one who wins the league in the end,” he said. “We have neither sold any important players, nor worked up any debts.

“We have a team which is growing and a philosophy which we are 100% convinced about. I don’t have any sympathy (for Schalke) at all.”

Watzke insists, though, now is not the time to think about Schalke and their problems. Instead, the focus must be on Dortmund’s long-awaited return to Europe on Thursday.

“First of all, we have a really difficult game in the Ukraine against Lviv,” he told Bild . “If anybody wants to talk about the derby, they can do so on Thursday evening after the game. Before then, I expect full concentration on the Europa League.”