Kovac likely to ring Dortmund changes amid hectic away schedule

Niko Kovac hinted that he could make several changes to his Borussia Dortmund line-up for their Champions League clash away to Copenhagen on Tuesday.

Dortmund travel to Parken hoping to bounce back from their defeat to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga at the weekend. 

Kovac's side are seventh in the 36-team league standings after collecting four points from their first two games, beating Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in their last European fixture. 

Dortmund have only lost one of their eight Champions League matches under Kovac (W4 D3), who replaced Nuri Sahin back in January. 

Of managers with at least two games in charge of the German side in the competition, this is the lowest loss percentage (13%) of any individual.

But Dortmund head into a testing period of fixtures, with their tie against Copenhagen the second of six away matches between last weekend and November 8. 

And given the extensive travel his squad will endure over this period, Kovac insisted that all of his squad will be needed to ensure momentum is maintained. 

"Five of our next six games are away games. That means we'll be travelling a lot, of course," Kovac told reporters.

"I'll definitely be making changes here and there. I'm not giving anything away about [Tuesday], but everyone will definitely get their chance at this stage."

This will be the fourth time Dortmund have faced a Danish team away from home in Europe, while they are unbeaten in the previous three (W1 D2).

The only one that came in the Champions League was a 1-1 draw away to Copenhagen in the 2022-23 group stage. 

And having done so in each of their last three European games, BVB could score three or more goals in four consecutive games for the first time in their European Cup/Champions League history.

But the main objective for Kovac is getting points on the board early on, having had to settle for a play-off place in last year's edition. 

"We want to score points here tomorrow and climb as high as possible in the table," Kovac added.

"After that, we have to go to Manchester, where it won't be any easier. Ultimately, we'd like to avoid the play-off round and two additional games."

And while Dortmund are the clear favourites in the Opta supercomputer's data-led simulations, winning 48.4% of those, Kovac is expecting a tough encounter for his players. 

"When you know all the players who are playing, it's usually a little easier," said Kovac about the opposition and his game plan. 

"But all the Copenhagen players are good enough to replace the players that are out injured.

"Sometimes it's even more difficult because they have extra motivation, because they want to show the coach 'you can count on me'. 

"We want to focus on our game and pick up points against a very respectable opponent."