Erling Haaland has called on his Borussia Dortmund team-mates to "stick to the plan" in order to ease pressure on interim head coach Edin Terzic.
Terzic was handed a contract until the end of the season after Lucien Favre's sacking in December, but the German's position is already being called into question after a poor run of results.
Dortmund slipped to sixth in the Bundesliga standings after being held to a 2-2 draw by Hoffenheim at Westfalenstadion on Saturday, however Haaland has urged the squad to rally around their manager after another damaging setback.
What was said?
''We just have to try to stick to the match schedule we get before the game and stick to it," Haaland told Sky Germany. "We get this plan because the coach believes that with this plan we can win against the team we are up against. We just have to stick to it and try to show the performance."
The Norwegian striker added: "I've been in situations like this before. It's not easy, but I try not to think about it too much. It's difficult when we lose again and you have the feeling that everything is going against you. Then we try to zero everything and bring new positive energy into the team, and that as quickly as possible."
Can Dortmund still achieve their goals in the Bundesliga?
Prior to the 2020-21 season, Dortmund's main target would have been to close the gap on Bayern Munich, who won the title by 13 points in 2019-10.
However, Terzic's side now find themselves 15 points adrift of the reigning champions and it is highly unlikely they will be able to knock them off their perch come May with only 13 fixtures left to play.
Dortmund's main focus is making sure that they salvage a place in the Champions League again, but it won't be an easy task with Wolfsburg currently sitting six points above them in fourth place.
What's next for Dortmund?
Dortmund are currently preparing for their Champions League round of 16 first leg tie against Sevilla on Wednesday, which will be staged at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
Haaland admits that the German giants will have to raise their game significantly in order to qualify for the quarter-finals, with the forward well aware of the threat the Liga outfit will pose.
''Sevilla are a strong team that have won the Europa League several times," he said. "We just have to get back in shape and do our best on the pitch to have a chance. If we play like we did in the last few games, we don't stand a chance."
