If Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund wins each of the remaining five games this season, FC Bayern will be beaten and the championship title will go to the Ruhr area. But BVB must be prepared for a defensive bottleneck on the way there.
The substitution of central defender Nico Schlotterbeck in the home game against Eintracht Frankfurt (4-0) left Borussia Dortmund with major concerns. After just 25 minutes, the new summer signing was replaced by head coach Edin Terzic – as a precautionary measure.
“At some point during the run he grabbed his thigh and came to the coaching bench. He really wanted to keep playing, but we also have to learn,” said the 40-year-old after the game on “Sky”. Just a few weeks ago, Schlotterbeck injured his thigh in the top game at FC Bayern and missed two games as a result. The 23-year-old also complained about problems after the international match against Peru at the end of March.
On Friday evening in the district derby at VfL Bochum (8:30 p.m.), Nico Schlotterbeck will also be absent, as Terzic confirmed on Thursday afternoon. Schlotterbeck had already missed the start of training on Tuesday. The DFB defender “injured a muscle, but in a slightly different place”.
After all: It doesn’t seem to “look as dramatic as it did last time, so it won’t be out for too long”.
Four BVB stars are threatened with a yellow card suspension
Although Edin Terzic has two top solutions in central defense in Niklas Süle, who recently returned from an injury, and Mats Hummels, caution is still required. Hummels has four yellow cards before matchday 30, and one more would result in a one-game ban. Should the vice-captain and Schlotterbeck fail at the same time, the BVB coach would have to get creative and possibly pull the in-form Emre Can from defensive midfield into the defensive line.
The only alternative available to BVB in central defense is young Soumaila Coulibaly, who made his Bundesliga debut in a 3-3 (2-0) win at VfB Stuttgart.
Meanwhile, Mats Hummels is not the only Dortmund professional who could still face a ban: Winter newcomer Julian Ryerson, who promptly established himself as a regular in the wing positions, captain Marco Reus and backup striker Anthony Modeste have already received four yellow cards in 2022/23.