Raphael Guerreiro dealing with a calf injury, could miss DFB-Pokal first round tie

Raphael Guerreiro is currently dealing with a calf problem, and his injury will likely force him to miss Borussia Dortmund’s DFB-Pokal first round tie against SV Wehen Wiesbaden next weekend.

Raphael Guerreiro arrived at Borussia Dortmund’s training camp in Bad Ragaz on Sunday. But he hasn’t been able to train with the team yet. The Portuguese international is currently sidelined with a calf problem. This is being reported by Ruhr Nachrichten, who add that he is likely to miss next weekend’s DFB-Pokal first round tie against SV Wehen Wiesbaden.

The newspaper adds that if everything goes well, the plan is for Guerreiro to return to training at the beginning of next week. But for that to happen, his injury would have to improve significantly over the weekend.

Even if he does return to training next week, Borussia Dortmund will not want to rush Guerreiro back into action. And so Nico Schulz could get the chance to start at left-back in the Black and Yellows’ first competitive game of the season.

Guerreiro’s injury further adds to Borussia Dortmund’s defensive worries. Mats Hummels, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Soumaila Coulibaly and Nnamdi Collins are also dealing with injuries, while Manuel Akanji, Thomas Meunier and Emre Can have only just returned from their post Euro 2020 breaks. So it will be interesting to see what back four Marco Rose picks next weekend.

In better news, Marcel Schmelzer made his return to team training on Thursday after more than 12 months on the sidelines. The veteran left-back missed the entire last season after undergoing knee surgery in July 2020. But he is now closing in on his comeback.