There was both good and bad news for Borussia Dortmund in the build-up to the second leg of their UEFA Champions League last 16 encounter against Zenit St. Petersburg tonight (kick-off 20:45, live on ZDF and Sky).
Dortmund will not be able to call upon Marco Reus against last year’s runners-up in the Russian league, with the Germany international still unable to participate in full first team training due to muscular complaints.
However, last year’s Champions League finalists, who go into the match with a 4-2 advantage from the first leg, can call upon playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan and defensive rock Mats Hummels, who returns to Europe’s premier club competition after a five-month absence.
Hummels cautious
The centre-back was clearly at ease as he casually strolled into the obligatory pre-match press conference, having previously chatted to officials and journalists before the event got underway. Once sat at the podium, Hummels insisted Dortmund would be on their guard against their visitors: "We certainly won’t be underestimating them."
The draw of earning a place among the continent’s eight elite sides for a second successive season - and doing so for the first time in 16 years - is too great, while the thrill of further high-octane European encounters is equally tempting.
"In the first leg we laid a good foundation for the return fixture, nothing more", said coach Jürgen Klopp. "The difficult thing is being asked to think about the first leg result again and again. Our plan is to approach the second leg as we would any normal game."
Lengthy absence
The players seem to have taken that message on board, with Hummels a picture of calm and concentration ahead of his Champions League return. Given the club’s ever-growing injury list in recent weeks and months, it has almost gone unnoticed that Hummels’ last appearance in Europe was on 22 October 2013 in Dortmund’s notable 2-1 victory away to FC Arsenal in London.
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There was both good and bad news for Borussia Dortmund in the build-up to the second leg of their UEFA Champions League last 16 encounter against Zenit St. Petersburg tonight (kick-off 20:45, live on ZDF and Sky).
Dortmund will not be able to call upon Marco Reus against last year’s runners-up in the Russian league, with the Germany international still unable to participate in full first team training due to muscular complaints.
However, last year’s Champions League finalists, who go into the match with a 4-2 advantage from the first leg, can call upon playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan and defensive rock Mats Hummels, who returns to Europe’s premier club competition after a five-month absence.
Hummels cautious
The centre-back was clearly at ease as he casually strolled into the obligatory pre-match press conference, having previously chatted to officials and journalists before the event got underway. Once sat at the podium, Hummels insisted Dortmund would be on their guard against their visitors: "We certainly won’t be underestimating them."
The draw of earning a place among the continent’s eight elite sides for a second successive season - and doing so for the first time in 16 years - is too great, while the thrill of further high-octane European encounters is equally tempting.
"In the first leg we laid a good foundation for the return fixture, nothing more", said coach Jürgen Klopp. "The difficult thing is being asked to think about the first leg result again and again. Our plan is to approach the second leg as we would any normal game."
Lengthy absence
The players seem to have taken that message on board, with Hummels a picture of calm and concentration ahead of his Champions League return. Given the club’s ever-growing injury list in recent weeks and months, it has almost gone unnoticed that Hummels’ last appearance in Europe was on 22 October 2013 in Dortmund’s notable 2-1 victory away to FC Arsenal in London.
He subsequently missed the disappointing 1-0 home defeat against the Gunners, as well as the 3-1 victory over SSC Napoli and the 2-1 triumph away to Marseille in a dramatic group stage finale. Hummels had been pencilled in for a comeback at the Petrovski Stadium in St. Petersburg, but was ultimately omitted as a precaution after suffering two injuries.
Trio of regulars missing
Now, however, he is back and will be charged with resuming his dual function in the team: coordinating the defence and launching attacks from deep. Hummels’ eye for a pass is an important component of Dortmund’s play, and will be even more crucial now that Marco Reus has joined fellow creative schemers Ilkay Gündogan and Jakub Blaszczykowski on the sidelines.
Any hopes of Reus playing were crushed on Tuesday. The attacker, whose goal and two assists propelled Dortmund to victory in the first leg, is now pain-free but only participated in running exercises in the afternoon, rather than joining the rest of his colleagues. Klopp is unbending in his belief that a player must take part in first team training to be considered for the matchday squad. "Given our luck with injuries this season, we can’t afford to take any chances", said the Dortmund coach. "Running is no substitute for training. Therefore Marco won’t be able to help us against Zenit."
If all goes to plan, Reus will increase his workload on Wednesday before returning to first team training on Thursday, which would allow him to feature in Dortmund’s away game against Hannover 96 on Saturday (kick-off 15:30, live on Sky).
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Mkhitaryan in contention
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who sat out the club’s last domestic fixture against Borussia Mönchengladbach through suspension, is in line to return to the starting XI this evening, much to Hummels’ delight: "It wasn’t as if we were trying to just waltz through the Bundesliga by only giving 60 per cent last Saturday. As a team we collectively ran 126 kilometres. The issue was that we were missing too many creative players in that game."
That problem will be addressed with Mkhitaryan’s return, while Nuri Sahin is due a good performance after several below-par displays. Milos Jojic, who turns 22 today, is also waiting in the wings. The winter signing has already scored twice in just three short outings as a substitute and has impressed with his dynamism and inventiveness. Dortmund could use those precise qualities against Zenit tonight.
