Raphael Guerreiro returns to Borussia Dortmund early after controversial Portugal call-up
By Tushar Bahl
Portugal head coach Fernando Santos has confirmed that Raphael Guerreiro will be returning to Borussia Dortmund early as he has not yet recovered from the muscle injury which he suffered earlier this month. This comes just two days after Portugal decided to name the injured full-back in the squad for their upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The decision by the Portugal Football Association to call-up Guerreiro was heavily criticised by those in charge at Borussia Dortmund, with sporting director Michael Zorc calling it “senseless.” But the 27 year old still had to make the trip, and now he returns to Dortmund just two days later.
Guerreiro suffered a calf injury during the DFB-Pokal quarterfinal against Borussia Mönchengladbach earlier this month. He has missed Borussia Dortmund’s last four games and has not been able to train with the team either. So he was never going to be fit in time to play in the World Cup qualifiers for Portugal. The only thing this call-up did was delay his rehab by a couple of days.
Guerreiro can now return to Dortmund and start working on getting ready for the busy period that awaits Der BVB next month. According to Ruhr Nachrichten, there is hope in the Borussia Dortmund camp that the left-back will be ready to make his return to the squad for the vital Bundesliga six-pointer against Eintracht Frankfurt on April 03.
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With key games coming up in all three competitions, the Black and Yellows will be hoping to have Guerreiro fit and firing again as soon as possible.