Together, they stood in the youngest league winning team to date, sensationally winning the title in 2011. Together, in 2012, they achieved the first and only "double" in the club's history. Together, they defended and pushed the team on their way to Wembley for the Champions League final in 2013. Together, they won the DFB-Pokal again in 2017: Marcel Schmelzer and Lukasz Piszczek.

Tomorrow, Saturday, Piszczek will say goodbye to BVB a few days before his 36th birthday. The home game against Leverkusen will be his 382nd and final appearance for Borussia Dortmund – after eleven years in Black and Yellow. A detailed report will follow on Saturday night here on bvb.de. 

Marcel Schmelzer, who was last on the pitch for BVB on 17 June 2020, injured his knee shortly afterwards and has not played since, will not be fit for the game tomorrow. "It goes without saying that we will give Marcel the opportunity to continue and finish his rehabilitation at BVB even after the end of this season. That's why we will not say goodbye to him at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday," says Michael Zorc, sporting director, adding: "Marcel Schmelzer is a player who has made an extraordinary contribution to Borussia Dortmund and has always identified 100 percent with our – and his – club." 

The 33-year-old defender, who has been at the club since 2005 and was first team captain from 2016 to 2018, is "glad and grateful that my club are offering me the opportunity to finish my rehab in Dortmund. After some difficult months, I am making progress, and there has even been great progress within a very short period of time, so I am optimistic that I will be able to get back to work on the pitch again in late summer."

Michael Zorc already suggests today what might come one day after his active career: "It is already the wish of everyone involved to include Marcel Schmelzer at BVB after his career and to support him to the best of our ability so he can pass on his wealth of experience to the next generation."(br)