Will Erling Haaland return in the Europa League home match against Glasgow Rangers? The answer to that question is still open two days before BVB’s game. If the exceptional striker runs on Thursday, an impressive series could continue.
The pictures that the Ruhr Nachrichten were able to catch on Monday afternoon while looking at the Dortmund training ground from the outside and then carried around the world gave BVB fans hope: Erling Haaland working out on the pitch – that hasn’t happened since the Norwegian injured himself in a sprint during the away game at TSG Hoffenheim on 22 January. Before that, he had only been working on his return to the pitch in the weight room.
The extent to which Haaland will be available as early as Thursday, when BVB, relegated from the Champions League, meet Glasgow Rangers to start their Europa League campaign, is admittedly still open. So far, the BVB managers around coach Marco Rose have not been rushing into anything when it comes to Haaland. The striker is too important and valuable for Borussia to take even the slightest unnecessary risk. More information is expected on Wednesday, when the final training session will take place in Brackel – possibly also with Marius Wolf (inner ligament strain) and Giovanni Reyna (illness), who have been missing recently and who both worked individually on their return at the beginning of the week.
Haaland continue impressive streak?
Should Haaland make his comeback against Rangers this week or in the second leg at Ibrox Stadium on 24 February, the attacker could continue an impressive run in what will be his first Europa League game for the Black and Yellows: So far, the 21-year-old has scored on every competitive debut for BVB, notching three goals on his Bundesliga debut at FC Augsburg in January 2020 (5:3). Haaland was also successful in his first DFB Cup match (3:2 in Bremen, one goal), his first Champions League match (2:1 against Paris, two goals) and in his first Supercup match (2:3 against Munich, one goal) for Borussia.
The striker collected his first minutes in the Europa League back in the 2018/19 season, when he was substituted for five minutes in the RB Salzburg shirt – it remained his only minutes in the competition so far.
