Injury crisis worsens: Borussia Dortmund without nine first-team players against Zenit

Borussia Dortmund will be without at least nine first team players for their Champions League game against Zenit St. Petersburg.

Borussia Dortmund head coach Lucien Favre delivered more bad news on the injury front during his pre-match press conference ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League game against Zenit St. Petersburg. Erling Haaland and Thomas Meunier have already been ruled out until the end of the calendar year, but there was hope that Manuel Akanji and Raphael Guerreiro would be fit for the game.

Unfortunately, the duo will miss now also the game, and so will Thomas Delaney, Mateu Morey and Mahmoud Dahoud. Favre did not provide any details on why Morey and Dahoud will be missing, but Ruhr Nachrichten say that the former is dealing with muscular problems while the latter is ill.

Reinier Jesus and Marcel Schmelzer remain out for Borussia Dortmund, although Favre confirmed that the former trained individually on Tuesday. But he added that it will be a while before he is fit again.

With all the injuries in the Borussia Dortmund camp, Tobias Raschl and Ansgar Knauff will join the squad for the trip to Russia.

The injury crisis is coming at the worst possible time for Borussia Dortmund, who still have five more games to play before Christmas. While they have already qualified for the Champions League round of 16, the Black and Yellows still need a result against Zenit to ensure that they finish top of the group.

Marco Reus, Thorgan Hazard and Jude Bellingham should return to the starting XI for the game against Zenit. While Youssoufa Moukoko is in line to make his Champions League debut.