Borussia Dortmund have the luxury of an extra day’s rest ahead of Tuesday night’s Champions League clash against Celtic after playing their weekend fixture on Friday night.
The Germans survived a scare against Bochum at home. They first fell to a 2-0 deficit early in the match before showing their resilience to come back and win 4-2.
Given the away side missed a glorious chance to go three-up in the first half, Dortmund will feel a sense of relief that Bochum didn’t pile misery on top of them after a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Stuttgart last weekend.
They’re now fully preparing for the Bhoys, and it seems last year’s Champions League finalists aren’t taking anything for granted. Sporting director Sebastian Kehl declared [Ruhr 24]: “They are really good.”
Dortmund have injury concerns ahead of Celtic
Effective winger Jamie Gittens, who has scored four goals this season including two against Club Brugge last time out in Europe, had to be substituted off on Friday night and hobbled out of the game after treatment on the pitch.
Kehl is hopeful he can recover for the test against Brendan Rodgers’ side, stating: “It shouldn’t be anything serious. So we hope that everyone will be available on Tuesday. Because we’ll need them.”
Gittens seemed to be in some discomfort, so we’ll see how that one goes.
Regardless, it’s far from ideal, as Dortmund’s attacking midfield has another key injury concern.
Marcel Sabitzer, who has also been playing in wide areas of late, was not fit enough to feature with Kehl explaining: “Marcel is injured and unfortunately hasn’t been able to train for the last one or two days. We still hope that he’ll be back in shape on Tuesday.”
Celtic gear up for toughest test of the season
Rodgers will be fully focused on St Johnstone right now, but the Dortmund match is undeniably looming large on the horizon. It is undoubtedly Celtic’s most difficult fixture of the season so far.
What was clear from watching on Friday night is that the Germans will be able to sustain quality across the entire 90 minutes, even if Celtic get off to a strong start like Bochum did.
Celtic’s fitness and ability will be tested to the maximum, and a complete performance is required to get anything out of the match.
A draw would be fantastic, with every point priceless in this league phase. But securing even that will require a lot of work.
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