Once again, Borussia Dortmund have to replace Erling Haaland, this time for even longer. What options are left for coach Marco Rose?
The next international break is already scheduled for the beginning of November, but until then Borussia Dortmund will have to play five more competitive matches – all without Erling Haaland. Borussia Dortmund’s goal scorer, who only celebrated his comeback on Saturday after muscular problems, will not have the chance to “return stronger” until after the Bundesliga break at the earliest due to a hip flexor injury, as he wrote on Friday.
“We have to tinker,” coach Marco Rose said ahead of games in Bielefeld (Bundesliga), against Ingolstadt (DFB-Pokal), against Cologne (Bundesliga), against Ajax Amsterdam (Champions League) and in Leipzig (Bundesliga). “It’s going to be very thin offensively. But we take it and we have to take it. “
Only with which personnel? During Haaland’s recent spell of constraint, Rose had twice ordered Donyell Malen into the centre of attack, once, in the 0-1 loss at Gladbach, forming a one-two with Malen and Youssoufa Moukoko.
Rose hopes for Moukoko against Cologne – Reyna return uncertain
But the 16-year-old is also currently out due to a fibre tear. “He’s on a good path, he just trained outside on the pitch. We hope he might become an option against Cologne,” Rose reported on Friday.
“Until then,” the coach continued, “we have Malen, Ansgar Knauff with his pace, can play a double-header.” Reinier, Marco Reus and the recovered U-23 striker Steffen Tigges are also options, he added.
Completely open, on the other hand, is the return of Giovanni Reyna, who has had to rest since the beginning of September with a thigh injury. Rose: “There is no sign of when he will return. “
