Borussia Dortmund face tough Hoffenheim test: Bundesliga Preview
By Tushar Bahl
Team News
Borussia Dortmund will have to make do without Manuel Akanji, who tested positive for COVID-19 while on international duty. The Swiss international has shown no symptoms yet, but remains in quarantine in Dortmund. Nico Schulz is also out, having suffered a hamstring injury while playing for Germany.
In addition, long term absentees Dan-Axel Zagadou, Marcel Schmelzer and Thorgan Hazard will be missing, with the latter due to return to training soon. Lucien Favre will not have his full squad back in training until Friday, so he could be forced into making some changes, depending on the fitness of those who represented their countries over the last two weeks.
Hoffenheim have a few injury concerns of their own, with Ermin Bicakcic, Havard Nordtveit, Kostas Stafylidis and Melayro Bogarde all set to miss the game. While Benjamin Hübner is a doubt. New signings Sebastian Rudy and Ryan Sessegnon could make their debuts after joining on deadline day.
Possible Lineups
TSG Hoffenheim: Baumann – Posch, Vogt, Hübner – Kaderabek, Grillitsch, Samassekou, Skov – Baumgartner – Dabbur, Kramaric
Borussia Dortmund: Bürki – Piszczek, Hummels, Can – Meunier, Bellingham, Witsel, Guerreiro – Sancho, Reyna, Haaland