Grosskreutz hopes to knock former club Dortmund out of German Cup

Berlin - Stuttgart's World Cup winner Kevin Grosskreutz is relishing his new club's German Cup quarter-final at home to Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday as he looks to knock his former club out of the competition.

Such is Grosskreutz's passion for Dortmund that he has a tattoo of the city's skyline on his right calf and Borussia's 2011 and 2012 German league titles celebrated in ink on his left shoulder.

"For me personally, it's of course a special feeling to run out against Dortmund," Grosskreutz told magazine Kicker having made 178 league appearances for Borussia.

"I'm from there and really looking forward to the game.

"We'll put everything in so that we can pull off a surprise.

"Dortmund have a world-class team, it's not for no reason that they're second (in the Bundesliga), but we believe in our chances."

Grosskreutz, 27, was part of Germany's World Cup squad, but didn't play a single minute of Brazil 2014 and will be up against former Borussia team-mates he only waved goodbye to in September.

The right-back will be tasked with ensuring Dortmund's Germany star Marco Reus has a quiet game on the left wing and that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fails to add to his tally of 29 goals in all competitions this season.

Grosskreutz has been a revelation since signing for Stuttgart in January, helping his new club to three wins in as many games, after an unhappy three-month stint at Galatasaray when he did not play a competitive game.

Having been a Dortmund regular under Jurgen Klopp, Grosskreutz left at the start of the current season due to a lack of opportunities under new coach Thomas Tuchel.

He switched to Istanbul's Galatasaray, but a problem with the paperwork before the transfer window closed, meant he could not play for the Turkish club for the rest of 2015 in competitive games.

Homesickness kicked in and Grosskreutz seized the chance to return to the Bundesliga with Stuttgart in January.

"I was made to feel super welcome in the team and feel really well in the city and in the stadium," he said.

"In the league, it is all about staying up and we aren't talking about anything else, but of course we want to try and take something out of Tuesday."

He is not Stuttgart's only ex-Dortmund player looking forward to playing last season's German Cup finalists.

Australian goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak is set to make his first start for Stuttgart having been plagued with injury since his transfer before the start of the season.

Resurgent Stuttgart will test high-flying Dortmund, having won all of its last five matches since needing extra-time to beat Eintracht Braunschweig 3-2 in the third round of the German Cup last December.

League wins over Wolfsburg, Koln, Hamburg and Eintracht Frankfurt have catapulted 2007 German league champions Stuttgart from the relegation places to 12th in the Bundesliga table.