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Good morning, Fear the Wall.
The Champions League draw took place yesterday, and Borussia Dortmund were placed in one of the easier groups of the competition. Instead of giants like Liverpool, Real Madrid, or Paris Saint-Germain, BVB will instead face SS Lazio, Zenit St. Petersburg, and Club Brugge. While none of these clubs are world-beaters, Lazio features a particular face that will be familiar to BVB fans.
Ciro Immobile’s Return to the Westfalenstadion
Ciro Immobile, who BVB fans will remember as the Italian striker who struggled to find the net during the 2014-15, has had quite the career turnaround. After leaving BVB, he had brief loan spells at Sevilla and Torino before landing at Lazio. Since his arrival, he’s transformed into one of the most dangerous strikers in all of Europe, capping off his impressive reign with a sensational 36 goals in 37 appearances last season, enough to earn him the Serie A Forward of the Season Award and the European Golden Boot.
Immobile was nothing but a class act even as he struggled to find the back of the net with Dortmund, so I’d expect nothing but a warm welcome from the reduced crowds at the Westfalenstadion. According to Ruhr Nachrichten, Hans-Joachim Watzke and Michael Zorc expressed their enthusiasm as well.
Watzke: The reunion with Ciro Immobile, which we are very much looking forward to, gives Los Lazio a special flavor.
Zorc: We look forward to seeing Ciro Immobile again in the SS Lazio jersey. It is our clear goal to survive the group stage. “
Marius Wolf to Join Köln on Loan
Hey, remember Marius Wolf? Well according to Bild, he’s joining Köln on loan. The deal was reached yesterday, and Wolf is expected to join Köln following a medical examination on Friday. Wolf hasn’t featured regularly for Borussia Dortmund since the 2018-19 season. He spent last season on loan at Hertha Berlin, where he had 21 appearances in the Bundesliga. Wolf clearly wasn’t going to get much playing time with BVB, so this move is probably what’s best for his career.
Borussia Dortmund Interested in Christian Eriksen?
This came across my desk late last night, and I’m still not sure if it’s worth covering, but apparently BVB are interested in signing the 28-year-old Dane Christian Eriksen from Internazionale. I’ve so far seen it reported in the Italian source Tuttomercato, but I haven’t seen any German sources like RN, Kicker, or even Bild report on it. There may be more news in the morning, but until more information comes out on this, I wouldn’t put too much stock in it.
If it were true, I would be very excited. As many of you know, I’ve been a Tottenham fan for quite a while, and Christian Eriksen was one of my favorite players while he was suiting up in lilywhite. He’s definitely not at the level that he reached with Spurs earlier in his career, but he’s still an immensely talented player who had excellent per/90 numbers with Inter.
The Daily Buzz
I’m gonna go back to making these completely unrelated to BVB. Are you guys enjoying the MLB Playoffs? As a Mets fan, I am once again watching with basically no invested interest at all, other than maybe to avoid having to listen to Yankee fans call into NYC sports radio shows to gloat about winning another World Series.