If Borussia Dortmund are going to usurp Bayern Munich and claim their first Bundesliga title since 2012, they are possibly going to have to do it without their talismanic captain Marco Reus.
The enforced shutdown of the Bundesliga due to the Corona virus crisis initially looked like a blessing in disguise for Marco Reus, who had suffered an adductor injury during BVB’s DFB Pokal defeat to Werder Bremen at the start of February. A lengthy rest spell to recuperate was the ideal tonic for the 30-year-old, and it was believed that when the league restarted last weekend, he would be fit to lead the Schwarzgelben in their pursuit of the Meisterschale.
Speaking to RTL Nitro two weeks ago, Reus seemed confident that he was on target with his rehabilitation programme saying: “I’m doing well on my rehab plan. I’m on target. Of course, Corona gave me a little more time to recover. It’s going to take another two or three weeks.”
Not so. Captain Reus was missing from the matchday squad to face Schalke in the Revierderby and reports in Bild claim that he may be out for the rest of the season as he struggles to overcome the injury and regain full fitness. Added to the woe are reports of a separate issue with his right-foot.
Reus is still undergoing individual training sessions and won’t be considered for this weekend’s game with VfL Wolfsburg or Tuesday’s der Klassiker crunch clash with Bayern Munich.
The only real positive for BVB is the fact that nowadays they are not so reliant upon their skipper with Lucien Favre’s younger offensive players stepping up to the mark in terms of attack and the likes of Emre Can, Alex Witsel and Lukasz Piszczek providing the leadership. In five of the six matches contested without Reus, Dortmund won five and scored an average of three goals per 90 minutes.
The club have ruled him out of Saturday’s Wolfsburg match, but have refused to confirm any longer lasting prognosis. Trainer Favre, commenting ahead of this weekend would not confirm or deny anything, although he did see hopeful that his captain would be able to feature again this season.
“He hasn’t trained with the team yet,” Favre explained at the virtual press conference. “We hope that he will come back as soon as possible and can help us until the end of the season.”
Reus has made 19 Bundesliga appearances for BVB this season scoring 11 goals and providing a further 6 assists.
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