Athletic against Borussia Dortmund

Athletic Club and Borussia Dortmund, two of the most emblematic teams in Europe, will face each other tomorrow as they prepare for the new season. With Saturday’s match, on 24 July, the Germans and Basques will have faced each other in a total of four matches, all of them pre-season friendlies, with a record of one draw, one defeat, and one victory for the Lions.

The first time the two teams met was in the 1990-91 pre-season at the Dutch Het Diekman stadium during the Twente Summer Tournament. On that occasion, the team coached by Javier Clemente started the match by going behind after Lusch scored the Germans’ first goal in the 20th minute. Around the 40-minute mark, Josu Urrutia scored an equaliser.

This was Athletic’s XI during that match: Quique, Lizarralde, Merino, Rípodas (Uribarrena), Andrinúa, Urtubi, Eskurza Urrutia, Iturrino, Loren (Moska) and Mendiguren.

Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, fielded the following team: De Beer, Kutouski, Nikolic, Helmer, Schulz (Breitzke), McCloud, Lusch, Zorg, Rummenigge, Povisen (Hegmann) and Franck.

Both teams met again during the 1993-94 pre-season. Goals from Michael Rummenige, Reinhardt and Zordt, soured Athletic Club’s first match of the pre-season at San Mamés.

Athletic took to the field at The Cathedral with Valencia, Estibariz (Lakabeg), Andrinúa, Larrainzar, Larrazabal, Urrutia (Eskurza), Carlos García, Guerrero, Garitano, Valverde and Uribarrena.

This was Borussia Dortmund’s XI in that match: Klos, Kutowski, Schmidt (Freund), Grauer, Schulz (Tretschok), Rummenigge, Karl (Reinhardt), Sammer (Zork), Poschner, Riedle (Chapuisat) and Sippel.

The last time the two teams met was during the 2016-17 pre-season. In that match, which like tomorrow’s game was also played at Kybunpark, the Lions played an entertaining game with many chances. Markel Susaeta scored the decisive goal.

This was Athletic’s eleven in that match: Iraizoz, De Marcos (Yeray), Bóveda, Laporte, Balenziaga, San José (Vesga), Beñat (Elustondo), Williams (Lekue), Eraso, Susaeta and Aduriz (Raúl García).

This was the German team’s eleven: Weidenfeller, Piszczek, Sokratis, Burnic, Schmelzer, Weigl, Kagawa, Götze, Pulisic, Schürrle and Aubameyang. In addition to them, Bartra, Dembélé, Sahin, Mor, Ramos, Merino, Castro, Passlack and Park also played.

Tomorrow, the Lions will return to Kybunpark to face the German giants and try to get their second victory of the pre-season. The match can be followed live on Athletic Club’s Youtube channel from 16:00 CEST (only available in Spain).