BVB without five against Wolfsburg

Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund will probably have to do without five regular players against VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday. According to coach Marco Rose, Mats Hummels, Gio Reyna, Donyell Malen, Mo Dahoud and probably Raphael Guerreiro are not available. But the coach can fall back on Nico Schulz again. Erling Haaland is anything but pain-free.

Rose said of Dahoud: “Mo dislocated his shoulder, an MRI was done. It will take a few days, we will treat it conservatively, wait until the pain goes away and then get him back into training.”

Erling Haaland can play, albeit with pain. “Erling can’t be pain free yet. I was sent a photo with the foot at 90 degrees to the leg. That means something must have broken. Then the question is how to deal with it, do you take pictures, don’t you take them. We can’t put the boy in the tube if he doesn’t want to do it himself,” said Rose, adding, “He tried to deal with the swelling professionally. It’s not optimal, but it’s getting better. That will keep him busy for a few more weeks. He’s been training for the week and he’s gritting his teeth, taking a pill before the game and that should work.”

The Norwegian has struggled with injuries on several occasions this season. He returned before the game against Bielefeld (1-0) in mid-March, but always played under the influence of painkillers.

BVB wants to make amends for the 4-1 defeat against RB Leipzig: “The fans were rightly angry. On Saturday we have the chance to give the fans a different afternoon than against Leipzig, with a suitable result.”