At his pre-match press conference ahead of Borussia Dortmund’s game against RB Leipzig, head coach Nuri Sahin has revealed that the injury crisis at the club has worsened.
On who is currently out injured, Sahin said:
“Adeyemi, Reyna, Duranville, Couto, Süle, Ryerson, Wätjen and Kobel are out tomorrow. Kabar is also suspended. With Waldemar Anton it will be a race against time.”
Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel is a fresh addition to the absentees after he came off the pitch with a hip injury suffered during Dortmund’s 1-0 loss to Wolfsburg in the DFB Pokal on Tuesday. This will likely mean that backup keeper Alexander Meyer will replace Kobel in the goal on Saturday.
Sahin also gave his thoughts on the injury crisis:
“Ten injured people is a lot, I have never experienced that before. But we will get out of this, it will turn around. We will stay true to ourselves and try not to hide behind excuses. That would be too easy.”
The injuries will likely give some of the youth players chances to play. Cole Campbell was brought on in the 77th minute in midweek and made a brief cameo last weekend against Augsburg while Dutch forward Jordi Paulina also made a brief cameo against Wolfsburg.
With most of the injuries being in defence, there will likely be a lot of rejigging like in midweek, which saw Emre Can played as a centre-back, Pascal Groß as a right-back and Julian Brandt as a defensive midfielder. This could open up opportunities for the youth players in attack.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
