Dortmund relish European return against Qarabağ

BV Borussia Dortmund make their return to UEFA competition when they host Qarabağ FK in the first leg of their UEFA Europa play-off on Thursday, with coach Jürgen Klopp "thrilled" to be involved after a season shy of European football last term.

Dortmund's last involvement, in 2008/09, proved to be a short one as Klopp's team lost on penalties to Udinese Calcio in the UEFA Cup first round. "Maybe a club like Bayern München would not be too thrilled to take part in the Europa League but for us this is pure happiness," said Klopp, who guided the Ruhr outfit to a fifth-place finish in 2009/10. "We are looking forward to this very much since this represents the next step in our development."

Though Dortmund do not begin their Bundesliga campaign until three days after the first leg, they warmed up for the visit of their Azerbaijani opponents with a comfortable 3-0 win at third-tier SV Wacker Burghausen in the German Cup first round on Saturday. A much tougher task awaits in the form of Qarabağ, who have progressed from the first qualifying round and caught the eye when they defeated Polish runners-up Wisła Kraków home and away last time out.

"I have seen recordings of the two games against Wisła Kraków which, I unfortunately have to say, were pretty impressive," added Klopp, who is unable to call upon Dede because of an ankle injury. "This is a young side that really enjoys their football. Having finished fifth in the Bundesliga, we are, of course, favourites but that does not mean we have an easy passage."

Qarabağ, meanwhile, have been readying themselves for their visit to the Westfalenstadion in a rather unusual way – by playing recordings of crowd noise from Dortmund home matches over loud speakers during training. "We're preparing for the match in Germany by all possible means," explained coach Gurban Gurbanov. "Up to this point we have looked good in away matches.

"We know Dortmund are one of the leading clubs in Germany in terms of fan base," added Gurbanov, who will be without the injured Afran Ismayilov, a scorer of five UEFA Europa League goals this term. "The Westfalenstadion is almost always packed so we got recordings of Dortmund fans and we're playing them during training so the players can adapt to the conditions they will face on matchday."

Gurbanov also revealed that former Germany coach Berti Vogts, in charge of Azerbaijan since April 2008, was quick to offer his advice. "Berti Vogts contacted me soon after the draw and offered me help, even though I hadn't asking, and I'm grateful for that."