Along with Sebastian Rode and Mario Götze, Borussia Dortmund must also continue to forgo Marco Reus' services in the 150th Ruhr Derby, as was expected. André Schürrle and Erik Durm are also unavailable. A further two players must contend with jet lag.

To Gelsenkirchen without Schürrle and Durm

Given that Götze and Reus are already out, Schürrle's injury has been tough for the manager to take as the team's offensive options continue to dwindle. Thomas Tuchel described André Schürrle's return from international duty with an injury as "annoying and regrettable". The brace getter in the 4-1 victory over Azerbaijan had clearly already taken a knock to the ankle and against the achilles tendon early on the match. Tuchel: "The pain is too much. He can not train."

Erik Durm sustained a muscular injury during training, "and will still be absent for a couple more days", reported the manager, who consequently must change his team.

Pulisic and Kagawa back from USA and Far East

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Though Christian Pulisic and Shinji Kagawa were rewarded with goals while on international duty (as were Emre Mor and Lukasz Piszczek), both must now deal with jet lag and the time difference. "Shinji looked very fresh, surprisingly so", observed Tuchel, who added: "He is very experienced and can handle such situations very well. He has the advantage that he is coming back from the East, which is less discomforting than a return flight from the West as in Christian Pulisic's case." Pulisic was still on duty with the USA up until Wednesday. The journey, the games and the hype he is getting right now "are bound to have taken their toll", according to Tuchel: "We shall see if he is able to rest up well. I am certain that he will be in the squad."  
Boris Rupert

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