Borussia Dortmund go to Werder Bremen on the final day of the Bundesliga with second place already secured and one more target still in sight: a season finish on 73 points. Niko Kovac made clear the trip is not a formality after last weekend's 3-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt locked up the runner-up spot.
"We take the game very seriously," Kovac said. "70 points sound good, 73 sound even better." He added: "I could live with 71, but we are going there to win." Dortmund sit on 70 points after the penultimate match and can post the fifth-best Bundesliga season in the club's history with victory in Bremen.
Werder are already safe and stand 15th with 32 points after the 33rd matchday, so the stakes in the werder vs dortmund meeting are different on each side. Dortmund are chasing one last result to underline the progress they have made, while Bremen are playing for pride after securing survival.
The match also carries a familiar edge. Dortmund are unbeaten in their last six competitive meetings with Werder, winning four and drawing two. They have won 50 Bundesliga matches against Bremen, and Werder have lost more league games only to Bayern Munich. This will be the fifth Bundesliga meeting between the sides on the final day, and Dortmund have won all four of the previous ones.
In person, the game asks more of Bremen's defensive shape after Yukinari Sugawara was ruled out through suspension. That puts extra weight on Schmid, who has played in all 33 Werder league matches this season and leads the team with eight assists. Dortmund, meanwhile, have another creator in Julian Ryerson, whose 14 assists place him among the most productive defenders in Europe this season. Only Federico Dimarco, Michael Olise and Bruno Fernandes have more assists across the five major European leagues in 2025/26, while only Henrikh Mkhitaryan with 15 in 2015/16 and Jadon Sancho with 16 in 2019/20 have posted more in a Bundesliga season for Dortmund.
Kovac said the team can be satisfied with what it has already achieved in the league, but his final line suggested the same thing the standings do: Dortmund are not showing up in Bremen to coast. They have already done enough to secure second place. The only question left is whether they leave with a number that makes the season look even better.
