Klopp wary of Augsburg threat

Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp said his side simply cannot afford to take Bundesliga cellar dweller Augsburg lightly this weekend.

The reigning German champions may be a good thing to beat the struggling Augsburg on the road this Saturday, but Klopp maintained his side not let their guard down, for any slip-ups simply allowed current Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich to climb further clear of the chasing pack.

“I think my team has shown that they are in good form, but Augsburg will be hard though,” said Klopp.

“Some people might just look at the table and say that this match will be easy going – but it won’t.

“We will have to respect them.

“We know Augsburg well, for example we watched their game against Hamburg,” he added, referring to a 2-0 win for Hamburg last month.

“It was quite impressive (by Hamburg). Those types of games can happen if you are not concentrating or focussed enough.”

Lukasz Piszczek and Ilkay Gundogan both picked up slight knocks during Borussia’s midweek Champions League draw with Real Madrid, but Klopp is confident both players will be available to travel to Bavaria for Saturday’s match.

Dortmund sit in sixth on the German table, 11 points behind Bayern Munich but only four adrift of second-placed Schalke, who take on Werder Bremen on Saturday.

The last two times Bremen have travelled south to Gelsenkirchen, they have been on the wrong end of 4-0 and 5-0 drubbings respectively, but Schalke coach Huub Stevens is also taking nothing for granted heading into this clash.

“They (Werder Bremen) have great qualities in attack and they try to play for that,” Stevens said.

“They play attacking football and try to pressure the opponent with their quick players.

“Additionally they have some players in midfield who are able to play quick passes.

“They have quick reactions but we must play in midfield with our own qualities.”

Schalke, though, head into this match with several injury concerns as defender Atsuto Uchida and midfielder Marco Hoeger join Christoph Metzelder on the sidelines.