The defence is practically choosing itself at the moment, while in midfield and attack Peter Bosz is tortured by having to choose between a glut of playing riches. Against a Leipzig side that is offensively strong, the Dortmund backline will soon be put to the test. 

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Notwithstanding the slightly injured Sokratis and the severely injured Lukasz Piszczek, the players who had been called up to represent their national side have returned from the break injury free. "It is unbelievable", observed Peter Bosz with regard to the number of sidelined players since the beginning of the season: "We have not had many players ruled out. But when we have, though, it has been our full-backs." Alongside Piszczeck, Marcel Schmelzer, Raphael Guerreiro and Erik Durm remain unavailable. Consequently, the manager is not ruling out changing the playing system from a back-four to a back-three, because, "there are not many left who can play in that position", by which he means left- or right-back in a four man defence. 

While the last national team players only returned on Wednesday (Bosz: "We have only got two days as such to prepare for what is an important game against Leipzig"), the players whom Joachim Löw is still consciously leaving out, namely, Mario Götze and Julian Weigl, were able to prepare in Dortmund. This is pleasing for the BVB manager, who noted "how fresh Mario is. I can see that he is getting fitter from day to day".

The manager has a free choice of unbelievable resources in both attack and defensive midfield. It remains to be seen whether Nuri Sahin or Weigl will play in the number six role, and whether during a congested period of fixtures there will be some kind of 'job-sharing'. "I like to have these kinds of decisions to make", said Bosz, who spoke of "a luxury problem". Ultimately, "the player with whom I think we will get the best result is going to get the nod".

His suggested route to that target reads as follows: "We will approach the game as we always do. We want to get the game under our control as quickly as possible, score goals, and if we can, give the fans some football that is easy on the eye."

In a contest between two sides that belong to the strongest attacking teams in the league, it is likely that both defensive lines will have their work cut out for them. "We know what we have to do", stated Peter Bosz, who said of the Leipzig men's counterattacking game: "If we aren't positioned correctly, irrespective of whether we are playing Freiburg, Gladbach or Leipzig, we will concede goals." The team needs to be set up to neutralise the opposing threat. Leipzig has good players according to Bosz, but so too does Dortmund: "What is important is that we field the better team tomorrow."

Boris Rupert