Gio Reyna thinks Borussia Dortmund can challenge Bayern Munich armed with Erling Haaland and Youssoufa Moukoko
Gio Reyna feels Borussia Dortmund can "beat anybody" as he hails a "new energy" within the team since Edin Terzic replaced Lucien Favre as coach, renewing their belief in challenging Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title this season.
A 3-1 win at fellow title challengers RB Leipzig last weekend moved Dortmund to within five points of the summit and they host bottom-placed Mainz on Saturday knowing a win would take them to within just two points of Bayern, at least for 24 hours, and Reyna believes they can breathe menacingly down the record champions' neck.
"It's hard to put it into words, but it feels like we've found some new energy, some new self-confidence, and there are new ideas which the team have begun to digest," Reyna told Germany's Bild newspaper. "We can see this improving by the day and we know that if we play to our full potential, with the talent within this team, then we can beat anybody, and we've got to keep working at this."
That energy may have arrived from the change in coach, with Edin Terzic taking charge until the end of the season following the departure of Lucien Favre, although that is only one of the factors behind Dortmund's revival, according to the 18-year-old American.
"That's how things go in football – sometimes you just need change," he said. "And the style we're now playing suits this team down to the ground. I'm a forward and my main job is to create chances, and I've got some great teammates, which is why I love being part of this front line. I think we can score plenty more goals this season."
More goals will be required to pose a serious challenge to Bayern's recent hegemony and Reyna says they must not get ahead of themselves after back-to-back wins over Wolfsburg and Leipzig.
"We know that Bayern are currently probably the best team in the world," he said. "But they are struggling right now. We've got to focus on ourselves, though, and ensure we don't look too far ahead. We've got Mainz on Saturday and we've got to win that, then we've got Leverkusen and Gladbach.
"Of course we want maximum points from these games, and then we'll see. It's a question of mentality. We want to keep in the title race, so we've got to win these games."
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Reyna believes that not just mental strength will be required to go the distance, with the USMNT international acknowledging how physical tiredness has already crept in during what has already been an intense campaign.
"It's been a crazy season," he said. "I've never before been as mentally and physically drained as I was after the Union game, and then we had the cup game in Braunschweig too and that really finished me off.
"I desperately needed a break after that, but we only got four free days over Christmas. The schedule in the first half of the year was really tough, and then we had the change in coach – it's not been very easy for us."
Not that you could tell by looking at 20-year-old forward Haaland.
"For a forward, it's amazing to play with a player like Erling," Reyna said. "He's quick and makes a lot of deep runs. We really missed him when he was injured – just look at the numbers. He's an outstanding player."
Watch: Erling Haaland's first 25 Bundesliga goals
To Reyna, the Norwegian is more than just a teammate on the field, though.
"We joined the professionals around about the same time a year ago, me from the youth team and he from Salzburg," Reyna said. "We hit it off straight away; there was the right chemistry between us. We're almost neighbours, which is why I chat a lot with him off the field."
Without his family by his side, Reyna - who was named US Soccer's Male Player of the Year for 2020 - says it has been a big help to have Haaland and other teammates checking in on him and helping him through what has been a "crazy" yet rewarding first year in Dortmund.
"It was crazy for all of us because of the Coronavirus," he said. "But of course it was particularly crazy for me – a lot has happened in a short space of time. I was given my chance and I took it and I've improved a lot. I keep trying to improve all the time, and part of that is wanting to score more and set up more.
"We want to win titles here, of course, and that is the ambition I share with the team. Of course I want to become a better player and show that to the fans, when they are allowed back in the stadium again."
When the fans do flock back to Signal Iduna Park, they can look forward not just to Reyna and Haaland, but also to another young shooting star – the youngest debutant and Bundesliga goalscorer in history no less – in Youssoufa Moukoko.
"Good players know where to find each other and we were definitely not the worst combination around at U19 level," Reyna said. "We had a really great understanding and we combine well to score goals. It all fits very well together."
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