Bundesliga: In-form Borussia Dortmund keep advancing

 BERLIN: The excitement around Borussia Dortmund couldn't be greater as the team is riding the wave delivering eight consecutive wins.

They are back in the national league's title race and the successful first-leg encounter in the Round of 16 of the Champions League against Chelsea makes fans dream of the first national championship since 2012.

For the club, the winning streak simultaneously holds dangers as not only the team's restructuring does continue behind the scenes, but coach Edin Terzic is repeatedly launching the message: "We haven't reached anything yet and need to stay tuned."

While silverware has come within reach, the club is building its next season squad, reports news agency Xinhua.

Reports speak of agreements with national rival performers such as Frankfurt's courted Japanese midfielder Daichi Kamada and Moenchengladbach's defender Ramy Bensebaini.

At the same time the cases of aged team captain Marco Reus and 2014 world champion Mats Hummels demand to be solved without interfering with the present flow. Both hope for a contract extension for one or two years.

On top, England international Jude Bellingham is said to have caused serious interest from top European sides.

Several training days, free of mid-week competitions, helped Terzic to tighten the reins in advance of Saturday's league encounter against Hoffenheim and the second leg against the Blues.

"We must understand there is no reason to rest," the 40-year-old manager stated after intensifying training efforts.

After a rather poor first season, the change to a tactical 4-1-4-1 system and an improved mental approach coming along with increased robustness for the moment changed things for good.

Considering the teams struggling over the past years to secure their high-fly-phases, keeping on riding the wave this time seems the biggest challenge from the perspective of Dortmund's coach.

Terzic urged the team to keep in mind "what brought us into that pleasant situation," namely hard training.

Tirelessly Borussia's sportive architect is expressing a warning "not to get affected by emotions around the club."

"For me, it's too much fuss about the ups and downs; we need pragmatic consistency," he added.

The coach said the squad's restructuring is going to continue "as there is a lot more to come." Japanese international Kamada and Algerian international Besenbaini don't seem to be the final words on that.

To keep the balance between future and present competition apparently has become a hard nut to crack.

"We should just enjoy that fans currently can't wait to see us play and keep in mind that's exactly what we intended to trigger last summer when talking about this season," he noted. (IANS)

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