Erling Haaland remains a doubt for Borussia Dortmund’s Bundesliga clash against Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday. But Gio Reyna could make his long-awaited return.
The Borussia Dortmund players returned to training on Tuesday ahead of Sunday’s crunch Bundesliga clash against third placed Bayer Leverkusen. Erling Haaland did not take part in Tuesday’s training session. And Sebastian Kehl confirmed that the striker is still dealing with muscular problems.
Kehl did not comment on Haaland’s status for this weekend’s game, but did add that the Norwegian international will be back soon.
"“He is continuing to work indoors due to muscular problems. Basically, nothing has changed yet. But as he said himself recently, he will be back soon. He is highly motivated, as we all know. But I can’t say any more at the moment. Of course we know that we are better with Erling than without him."
Haaland suffered a muscle injury during Borussia Dortmund’s 3-2 win over TSG Hoffenheim before the international break. While Dortmund haven’t yet given an expected timeframe for his return, it is thought that his injury is not a serious one.
One player who has spent significant time on the sidelines this season due to a serious injury is Gio Reyna. The USMNT international hasn’t featured for Borussia Dortmund since August. But he could finally make his long-awaited comeback this weekend, Sebastian Kehl revealed on Tuesday.
Reyna missed Tuesday’s training session with a cold, but Kehl added that he is very much on the right track.
"“Gio has had a difficult time, he was out for several months because of an injury that kept him very busy. It took a little bit of time, a lot of conversations. The family was also very involved and you could tell that it does something to a young boy when he can’t train with the team for so long.”“He has been really stable again for some time now, and has been training for several weeks. Maybe he can make the squad this weekend. Unfortunately, he has a little bit of a cold right now, but he is really on the right track.”"
Thomas Meunier, who missed Borussia Dortmund’s win over Hoffenheim with a muscle injury, trained individually on Tuesday. While Manuel Akanji and Mahmoud Dahoud were able to take part in the entire training session after overcoming their recent injury scares.
Borussia Dortmund have a number of important games coming up in the Bundesliga and the UEFA Europa League this month, starting with Sunday’s topspiel against Bayer Leverkusen.