Kovac labels Guirassy Dortmund's 'life insurance'
Niko Kovac praised Serhou Guirassy's standout contributions for Borussia Dortmund this season, highlighting his importance ahead of the Bundesliga meeting with Augsburg.
The 28-year-old Guinea international, who signed from Stuttgart in July last year, has scored 24 goals across all competitions this season and has often been the difference between victory and defeat for Dortmund in a difficult campaign.
He is the league's top goalscorer in the second half of the season with seven goals, equalling his tally from the whole first half of the campaign.
"He's like our life insurance at the moment. He's always on and has to get through it," Kovac said.
"The fact that it's Ramadan now doesn't make it any easier for him, but he's an absolute professional and he'll manage that too."
Practising Muslim adults do not eat or drink from dawn to sunset during Ramadan, presenting challenges to professional athletes.
Dortmund, which is 10th in the standings on 35 points, will be looking to build on wins over St Pauli and Union Berlin when it hosts 11th-placed Augsburg this weekend.
It is the first time it has won back-to-back Bundesliga games this season, and the first time since the opening two fixtures it has kept consecutive clean sheets in the competition.
Augsburg is looking to do the league double over Dortmund for the first time in the competition's history, and Dortmund is in for a tough task if it wants to avoid that fate. Its visitor's resolute defence has let in only two goals in an eight-game unbeaten run in the league.
"Augsburg is a team that plays very physical football. They play with a very compact five-man defence, which has allowed very little recently," Kovac said.
"It's up to us to put a lot of pressure on them and create enough chances so that we can get our fans on our side and hopefully win this game.
"We take our opponents very seriously. We have to approach the game very seriously and with concentration."
Dortmund will be without left-back Daniel Svensson, who suffered a ligament injury in its 1-1 draw with Lille in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie, as well as midfielder Felix Nmecha.
"We won't change things [on Sunday AEDT]. The only thing that's clear is that we'll have to replace Daniel," Kovac said.
"Svensson will miss some time. [Carney] Chukwuemeka trained with us today, but unfortunately didn't give the green light. He won't be involved tomorrow. Apart from Nmecha, everyone else will be fine and healthy.
"[Nmecha] completed his first run today. His level is satisfactory... It will take time, but he will be an important part of this club's future."
