Saturday sees the return of Bundesliga action. The match at Cologne marks the first of seven games in just 23 games, including four in the Bundesliga, two in the UEFA Champions League and one in the DFB Cup. However, the game against Cologne is more than just the first of a heavy schedule – on Saturday BVB will look to reverse their fortunes of a, at least domestically, not so successful season so far.

Borussia Dortmund want to battle their way up the league table while consolidating their great position in the Champions League (two wins from two games without conceding). Marco Reus, Ilkay Gündogan und Henrikh Mkhitaryan, three key performers who all have been missed in the last couple of weeks, play a key role here, even if Jürgen Klopp was quick to warn against expecting miracles from the three players. The Dortmund coach said, “Everyone is hoping that these lads with the recognisable names will be back at 100 percent. I expect the 100 percent that are possible, and we have to wait and see how much that is.”

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Reus (left), Gündogan (centre) and Mkhitaryan (second right) return to the squad, Kirch (right) returns to training this weekend.

Reus, who suffered two ankle injuries while playing for Germany, has played as little as 212 minutes in competitive games between June and October, and the last time Gündogan played a Bundesliga match for BVB was on August 13, 2013. Following the ankle injury suffered on 20 September, Mkhitaryan is the likely choice of the three players to recapture his old form quickly again.

“One should not assume that everything is running smoothly now”

“One should not assume that everything is running smoothly now just because their names appear on the team sheet,” said Klopp about the returning players, adding: “But they are back now, and it’s all about getting them in the shape to play our football. They have looked good in training, and I’m confident it will work out soon.”

BVB will undoubtedly be encouraged by an easing injury list. “Now is the beginning of the rest of the season,” announced Jürgen Klopp in the build-up to the Cologne match. Even if he hasn’t been able to work on tactical components in the last two weeks, due to 13 players being on international duty, he concluded very philosophical, “We couldn’t pick up any points in the past two weeks, but we also couldn’t drop any.”