"Borussia Dortmund want to win the title" – Marco Reus
After missing out on the Bundesliga title by just two points to Bayern Munich in 2018/19, Borussia Dortmund have been busy in the transfer market with Thorgan Hazard, Julian Brandt and Nico Schulz already bolstering the BVB squad ahead of next season.
Reus, 30, already had the chance to talk to two of his new teammates - Julian Brandt and Nico Schulz - while on international duty with Germany last month, about his plans for 2019/20: rewriting the wrongs of an enthralling season just gone, which left Reus and his team licking their wounds.
Reus had one of his best seasons in a black-and-yellow shirt to date last term. The 30-year-old – who celebrated his birthday at the end of May – scored 17 goals and added eight assists in his 27 league appearances.
The Germany international’s inspired captaincy pushed a young BVB side closer to winning the title than they have been since winning it in 2011/12 under current Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp. The pain of falling just short this time, Reus says, will take time to heal.
"[Reflecting on the season] won’t really work until I go on vacation after the time with the national team," Reus told Germany's leading sports specialist magazine, Kicker. "It hurt really bad because this time the chance was just incredibly big. There was a lot more in it for us. The feeling is still lingering."
What makes matters worse for Reus was the way in which Bayern won their seventh consecutive title ahead of Dortmund. At one point in the campaign, Lucien Favre’s side sat nine points clear of their Klassiker rivals at the summit.
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Bayern’s second half of the season run of 13 wins, three draws and just one defeat, coupled with BVB’s stumbles, turned the title in the Bavarians' favour in time for a final Matchday win to seal the title against Eintracht Frankfurt.
"I was doubly annoyed, because we not only missed the title, but we also have to blame ourselves as we were clearly ahead," Reus said, before looking ahead, encouraged by the fact the young team around him - with talents such as Jadon Sancho, Manuel Akanji and Achraf Hakimi experiencing their first Bundesliga title races – can learn from their disappointment.
Coupled with the aforementioned high-profile signings of – Hazard (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen) and Schulz (Hoffenheim) - a potent cocktail is brewing at the Signal Iduna Park.
"Everyone has had their experience now," Reus explained. "We've already done well this summer so our goal must be to stay at the top until the very end, and then also win the title.
"If you have big goals - and we have them - then you need a lot of high profile players, and we'll reach our goals with them without question."
Looking ahead to the 2019/20 season, Reus still has the same goals – or "cravings", as he calls them – as he did on his first day at Dortmund when he re-signed for the club in the summer of 2012. Having won his only silverware with the club in the 2017 DFB Cup final against Frankfurt, one domestic prize still eludes the Dortmund-born star.
"My cravings have been extremely pronounced since my first day at BVB," Reus said. "But the closer to the end of my career I come, the more intense the focus is on [winning the title]. Since I’ve been in Dortmund, we’ve been close to it several times. In the next two or three years it has to work out, too."
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