Borussia Dortmund's seventh – and final – match in the space of 22 days comes on Saturday evening (18:30 CET) when they visit Rasenballsport Leipzig. The trip across to Saxony will see BVB boss Marco Rose return to his hometown: "I still have a home there, my family lives there. I love my hometown."

None of the players still working towards their recovery will board the plane for Leipzig this Friday. Rose issued a status update on the injured Giovanni Reyna: "His situation is slowly improving. We hope he'll keep taking steps forward, however it is not yet possible to predict when he'll return. Hopefully it'll be on the cards before the turn of the year."  

Defender Dan-Axel Zagadou will again be part of the travelling party following his appearance for the U23 side and his inclusion in the squad for the recent double-header against Ajax. "We're happy to have him back again. He's training very well," said Rose. It remains to be seen who will fill in at left-back after Raphael Guerreiro and Nico Schulz both sustained injuries and Marius Wolf signalled that he needed to come off during the 3-1 defeat to Ajax on Wednesday. "In Felix Passlack, we have someone who can play on the left side of the defence. Manuel Akanji has also performed the role of full-back very well. We'll find a solution," said Rose, as he reflected on his options. 

Despite the injury-enforced absences in the team, "we showed that with a good idea, lots of passion and confidence, we can produce a good performance. The lads pulled together and played a great first-half hour against Ajax until Mats was sent off," said Rose, before adding: "That makes me optimistic for everything that is still to come. We're always capable of competing for points, regardless of our constellation. The situation is not simple, but we accept it."

Leipzig were also in Champions League action in midweek. The team played out a 2-2 draw with Paris St. Germain, a result which means they can no longer reach the last 16. Leipzig occupy eighth place in the Bundesliga and were held to another stalemate by Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend. 

"It'll be intense. There'll be a lot of challenges," said Rose, adding: "Leipzig are a team that work with intensity off the ball. That may well leave us with some space to exploit in behind their defence. They have a lot of outstanding footballers in possession, with real footballing quality, strength and power." There is "currently a gap between results and performance, but it'll be a challenging task for us."

The Black & Yellows are on an eight-match unbeaten streak against Leipzig, a run during which BVB have won on six occasions and drawn twice. BVB have won each of the last three league meetings, as well as the 2021 DFB-Pokal final.
Christina Reinke

BVB TV by 1&1: The press conference prior to the Leipzig match