Second place in the Bundesliga is up for grabs. In their last meeting in early February Borussia Dortmund moved back into second spot courtesy of a 3-2 win at Bayer Leverkusen, and on Saturday they will look to repeat this feat. Kick-off at a sold-out Signal Iduna Park is 1830 CET.

On his way to Thursday’s pre-game press conference, Jürgen Klopp bumped into Sven Bender and asked him how he is doing.  “Very good,” said “Iron Manni”, with the answer putting a smile on the Dortmund coach who said he was “overjoyed…”

BVB’s injury worries – in the cup game in Saarbrücken no less than seven players were missing with another two not fit enough to start – seem to be easing as they prepare for Saturday’s top Bundesliga clash. “The rest did Nuri Sahin good,” said Klopp who is also hopeful to have Robert Lewandowski available again.

Marco Reus, however, remains doubtful. Klopp revealed that the midfielder had a scan on his calf this week. Even though the scan showed “something”, for the BVB coach it’s more important to know how a player feels. ”And Marco says he feels fine.” A decision on whether he is fit enough to face Leverkusen will be left until Saturday. “We are not going take any risks,” said Klopp, adding that his players under normal circumstances need to practice at least once, “ideally twice” with the team before being considered for selection again. However, due to the current injury crisis, things could be handled differently this time. “Sometimes it is enough when a player shows up at breakfast…”

If all goes well, Reus could be used in a “super sub” role against Leverkusen in what Klopp expects to be an intense game. “We have big ambitions and are not going to give any further points away.” The Dortmund coach also said that they will be treating the final four games of the year as finals. “And we would like to win all four.”

Given their performances this season, Leverkusen will probably prove to be their toughest test. “We need to show from the off that we want to win this game,” said Klopp. “They have a lot of quality in their side, but they didn’t dominate every one of their games.” And still, they picked up 34 out of a possible 42 points. “That’s impressive,” acknowledged Klopp. “Leverkusen are a great team.”

A team BVB need to beat to reclaim second place - just like in February this year.