Lucien Favre has two more midfielders available as Borussia Dortmund travel to sixth-place VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday ahead of Tuesday’s match against Bayern Munich.
The 62-year-old had to make do without Axel Witsel and Emre Can due to muscular injuries in Dortmund’s 4-0 win against FC Schalke last Saturday, as well as Giovanni Reyna, who picked up a hamstring injury in the warm-up before kick-off.
“Axel Witsel is out but Emre Can and Gio Reyna can fully train today. They will be available,” Favre told Friday’s news conference, adding: “Emre Can started training on Thursday.”
17-year-old Reyna was bound for his first Bundesliga start when injury struck. Asked whether the U.S. player would receive another chance to start from the beginning at the Volkswagen Arena, the coach replied: “We have to adapt. He only did light training on Thursday, so we’ll see.”
Favre still hopeful for Reus return
The Black and Yellows have been deprived of their team captain Marco Reus since early February. The 30-year-old trying to recover from a complicated muscular injury but reports suggest that he may not return before the scheduled end of the Bundesliga on June 27.
“Macro Reus is yet to train with the team,” Favre said. “Nevertheless, we’re hoping that he returns as soon as possible to help us before the season ends.”
The Swiss also said that his personnel decisions are not influenced by Tuesday’s match against Bayern despite the two-month hiatus. He said: “We are just focused on the game ahead.”
Dortmund are looking to reduce the four-point deficit to league leaders Bayern ahead of the midweek clash. BVB have won 24 out of a possible 27 points in the Bundesliga Rückrunde and against Wolfsburg, their record is eight wins and one draw out of the last nine games, winning the last four games in the wolf den.
Centre-back Mats Hummels and midfielder Thomas Delaney are both sitting on four yellow cards and are in danger of a suspension for the Bayern match if they receive a fifth booking in Wolfsburg.
Götze does not fit current system
The relationship between Borussia Dortmund and Mario Götze is coming to an end. The contract of the 27-year-old will run out at the end of the season and the midfielder will with all likeliness look to revamp his career at another club.
“At the moment we play 3-4-3,” the 62-year-old said about Götze’s lack of playing time, adding: “I talked to him about that this is not the ideal system for him. You have to say the truth. He can still play in this system left or right behind the striker but we have many players.”
After making 34 appearances, including 26 starts, amassing 2266 minutes in all competitions last season, Götze has fallen down the pecking order in 2019-20. So far, he has only started in six out of 20 appearances across competitions, accumulating 599 minutes. Things are looking even bleaker for the 2014 World Cup winner in 2020 with only four garbage time substitutions amounting to a total of 20 minutes on the field.
It is still unclear which team will sign Götze, who is earning €10m per year on his current deal at Dortmund. Though he has mostly been linked with Serie A teams.
