‘We played beautifully’ – Kovac sees Arsenal win as a sign of progress for Dortmund

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Niko Kovac was encouraged by Borussia Dortmund’s 3-2 pre-season victory over Arsenal and even more positive about the fact they earned the result by playing “beautifully”.

On Sunday, Arsenal were beaten in the Emirates Cup for the first time since 2019 as Joane Gadou’s second-half strike proved to be the winner for Dortmund.

The Bundesliga side went two goals up before half-time, with Samuele Inacio and Konstantinos Karetsas – a recent €30m signing from Genk – on target.

Ethan Nwaneri pulled a goal back for Arsenal, but Gadou’s finish on the rebound in the 58th minute proved decisive, with Viktor Gyokeres’ later penalty a mere consolation for the Gunners.

Dortmund had fewer shots (eight to 14), shots on target (four to seven) and expected goals (1.38 xG to 2.07) than their hosts, but Kovac was still impressed by their attacking play. 

“The result wasn’t the main focus – that’s been the case for the past few weeks. It’s about us seeing certain things, and today we saw a lot of good things,” Kovac said. 

“Sure, there are still a few things to correct, but we’ve made progress. In the first half, we played our way to the first two goals beautifully – I liked that. 

— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) August 9, 2026

“Kosta [Karetsas] still needs time. He played 45 minutes today – that’s part of his training regimen. 

“We can see that he’s a really good football player, and that’s what every team needs. 

“Filippo [Mane] also had a really good game today. Both defenders cleared the ball very well – Joane as well as Filippo.”

Dortmund face Roma in their final pre-season friendly on Saturday, before meeting Bayern Munich in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup on August 22.

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