Borussia Dortmund's players, having grown up with the club as they turned around their financial fortunes, are ready to step up against favourites and fellow Germans Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in London, manager Juergen Klopp said on Wednesday.
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"We had a budget of next to nothing when I came in 2008," Klopp told reporters ahead of the May 25 Wembley final. "The boys started playing in the Bundesliga at 19; they are now 24 years old. They are all prepared to do what it takes to make victory in the final possible.
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"Bayern are very confident, they have a sense of security that they will beat us and win this Cup because they have tried and failed on recent occasions and out of that grows a greed to absolutely succeed," said Klopp.
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"We do not think that we will win it that easily. But we feel we have the chance to do it. In our situation that has to be enough."
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Since being on the brink of financial ruin eight years ago, Dortmund have built a title-winning team around Klopp and sorted out their finances.
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"We were so near the cliff, you could not get closer than that," CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke told reporters.
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"Now there is the philosophy never to create even a single euro of debt for a possible sporting success."
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Bayern won the 2011 Bundesliga title and completed a domestic league and Cup double the following season but have found that success brings another problem - other clubs coveting their players.
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Japan international Shinji Kagawa left last season to join Manchester United while 20-year-old Germany international Mario Goetze has controversially signed with arch-rivals Bayern from next season in a deal reported to be worth €37 million.
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Midfielder Goetze, a prized product of Dortmund's youth academy, had an exit clause in his contract.
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"We did not want the transfer of Mario Goetze but we have to accept it," sporting director Michael Zorc told reporters. "Dortmund have now reached a level where we can expect that (the players) identify 100 percent with the club. In the future there should not be any exit clauses. That is at least our aim."