SC Freiburg is concerned about the fitness of two key players before the game at Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. Both players returned from their national team duty earlier than planned due to injuries.
The international break initially got off to a promising start for Eren Dinkci. Freiburg’s summer signing was called up for the Turkish national team after being called up for the first time in September 2024, but did not play. After not being considered in October, it should have been Dinkci’s second chance to get his first minutes of play in the national team kit. But the Freiburg offensive player still has to wait for that.
Due to a knee injury, Dinkci missed the Nations League duels with Wales and Montenegro and returned to Freiburg early. In view of this, there is naturally a question mark over Dinkci’s ability to play in Dortmund on Saturday. If the 22-year-old is unable to play, it would be doubly disappointing. On the one hand, after a few unlucky appearances, Dinkci showed his best performance in an SC jersey so far in the 0-0 draw at Union Berlin just under two weeks ago. And on the other hand, he is the fastest Freiburg offensive force, which would be particularly important in an away game in Dortmund, to be able to make offensive pinpricks at speed in transition situations.
The sports club does not want to comment on the physical condition of Dinkci until Thursday at the press conference before the game in Dortmund with coach Julian Schuster. The same applies to first-choice goalkeeper Noah Atubolu. The former first-choice goalkeeper of the German U-21 team also had to leave his national team prematurely and missed the games against Denmark and France due to back problems.
Bundesliga-experienced Florian Müller would be available to replace Atubolu, who had already stood in for the first few games of the season with stable performances after the first-choice keeper’s appendectomy. Müller could come up with a special trump card for the upcoming away game: winning experience in Dortmund. He has already won twice with Mainz 05 at BVB, while Freiburg have not been successful there since 2001 and have lost 15 of the last 16 away games at the Westphalian club, with a devastating goal difference of 7:49.
So it could well be that the U-21 national keeper will be fit again in time. At least alternatives for the squad are now available again in the form of central defenders Manuel Gulde (after back problems) and Kenneth Schmidt (after an abdominal muscle injury). Both came on in the international match phase in the 1-0 friendly win against Karlsruher SC.