Borussia Dortmund fires coach Nuri Sahin after dismal start to new year

Borussia Dortmund fired coach Nuri Sahin on Wednesday, a day after its 2-1 loss to Bologna in the Champions League.

The defeat extended Dortmund's losing streak to four games since the new year and dropped last season's Champions League runner-up to 13th in the 36-team standings. The team is also struggling in 10th place in the Bundesliga.

“We really value Nuri Sahin and his work, we had wished for a long cooperation and until recently we hoped that we could manage to turn things around in sporting terms," sporting director Lars Ricken said in a statement.

"After four losses in a row, with just one win from the last nine games and currently being 10th in the Bundesliga, unfortunately we lost our faith in being able to achieve our sporting goals in the current configuration. This decision is personally painful for me too, but it was no longer avoidable after the game in Bologna.”

The club said the under-19s coach Mike Tullberg would take charge of Dortmund's next game Saturday in the Bundesliga against Werder Bremen. There was no word on a permanent successor.

The 36-year-old Sahin took charge in June. He had been an assistant to Edin Terzic, who resigned following Dortmund's 2-0 loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League final, saying the club needed to enter a “new era” without him.

Striker Serhou Guirassy celebrated with Sahin in what seemed like a show of support after scoring the opening goal against Bologna. Then Dortmund went on to concede two goals in two minutes against an Italian team which had never won a Champions League game before and which was eliminated despite the victory.

Dortmund’s management backed Sahin after a 2-0 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday but Ricken’s tone after the loss to Bologna was less supportive.

Ricken told broadcaster Prime Video on Tuesday that Sahin’s attacking tactics were “very brave” with a reliance on young players, and that conceding felt like “a matter of time” even in the first half.

Sahin was a Dortmund fan favorite as a player, having joined the team as a youth prospect in 2001 before a move to Real Madrid a decade later, and later returning for a second spell from 2013 through 2018. However, his only experience as a head coach was a two-year stint with Turkish club Antalyaspor.

“Unfortunately we were not able at the current time to do justice to the sporting ambitions of Borussia Dortmund in this season,” Sahin said in a statement. “I wish this special club all the best.”

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

James Ellingworth, The Associated Press