Being the sophisticated footballing artists they are, Gonzalo Castro and Raphael Guerreiro are key to Borussia Dortmund's hopes when they face Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Wednesday (20:45 CET). Thomas Tuchel did not clarify whether the pair would start, but the coach knows they can provide the team with quality – whether they feature from the start or from the bench.

Gonzalo Castro was sorely missed in the Ruhr derby against Schalke. The midfielder sustained an adductor injury against Leverkusen at the start of October – making his comeback in Ingolstadt on 22 October before playing the full 120 minutes against Union Berlin in the DFB Cup four days later. His exertions left him with muscular problems and he watched the derby from the stands.

"I trained today without any problems and could play," declared the 29-year-old. Raphael Guerreiro is ready to return, too. The Portuguese came off the bench for the last 20 minutes of Saturday's derby. "He always finds solutions, even when under pressure," praised Thomas Tuchel. "If you don't know what to do with the ball, then give it to Raphael, because it's safe with him. He's an outstanding team-player and he always has a smile on his face. We're happy to have him with us."

"Players that are involved at the crucial moments"

Similarly to Castro, Guerreiro's value is reflected in statistics. The Portuguese has scored three and set up five in all competitions, while his half-Spanish team-mate has three goals and six assists to his name. "With him in the team, Dortmund could end the creative drought that led to a noticeable imbalance going forward in their recent Bundesliga clashes with Bayer Leverkusen (2-0 defeat), Hertha Berlin (1-1) and Schalke (0-0)," kicker recently wrote of Castro. It was a view shared by Tuchel, who said: "The fact that top creative players such as Guerreiro and Castro have been sidelined through injury has played a major role. They are the players that are involved at the crucial moments. They have the quality to help their team-mates shine."

This valuable creative force is supplemented by another striker: André Schürrle. The scorer of BVB's second equaliser against Real Madrid, who had strained the medial collateral ligament in his knee, also came on against Schalke (for 11 minutes) – and made his presence felt.

However, it is unlikely that Tuchel will field all three from the start. "If we could do that, then we would," said the coach, "and they are all bursting to help. But being fit for a comeback is one thing; having the competitive edge is another. We need to take this into account. If it can be avoided, then it's not very likely all three will start, because we want to have a complete team on the pitch both at the start and at the end. If three players signal they want to come off in the 70th minute, then we don't have any opportunities to make changes for tactical reasons or to react to an injury. We need to get the balance right between throwing players on and overexerting them."
Boris Rupert