When Turkish Airlines flight TK 3316 to Thessaloniki takes off from the "Ruhr Runway" in around half an hour's time, a few familiar faces will not be on board the plane. For their 14th competitive match of the season - all 14 of which will come in the space of 65 days - against PAOK Saloniki on Thursday (kick-off 21:05 CET), coach Thomas Tuchel has left five key players at home.

Recovery time has been given to Mats Hummels, "Papa" Sokratis, Shinji Kagawa, Ilkay Gündogan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who all have one thing in common: including international matches, they have all played 15 times in exactly two months. That's one game every four days. Captain Mats Hummels has been in the starting eleven for all 13 competitive matches; Mkhitaryan, Gündogan and Aubameyang have each made one substitute appearance; Sokratis and Kagawa have come off the bench two and three times respectively.

"We need to make sure the players are not overexerted," explained head coach Thomas Tuchel. Borussia Dortmund have 29 competitive matches coming up before Christmas, a number that would rise to 30 if they beat Paderborn to reach the last 16 of the DFB Cup as expected. Players representing their country could play up to 36 matches in the first half of the season - that's two more matches than there are in an entire Bundesliga season.

With all this in mind, a Black and Yellow contingent has been left at home for the trip to Thessaloniki and further changes may also be made, giving other players in the squad the chance to shine. Examples include Moritz Leitner, who set up both goals in BVB's 2-0 pre-season friendly win over Spanish outfit Sevilla; Gonzalo Castro, who is looking to build on his excellent performance in Hoffenheim; Adnan Januzaj, who for the first time was involved in setting up a goal in the 2-2 draw with Darmstadt and scored in the 2-1 friendly win over FC St. Pauli; Joo-Ho Park, who scored the winning goal in the 2-1 victory over Krasnodar (one goal and one assist); or even other players such as Lukasz Piszczek, Neven Subotic and Sven Bender.

Borussia might not have their first-choice eleven on board when they land at 14:00 CET, but it will still be a strong side that touches down at Makedonia Airport.
Boris Rupert