When the Borussia Dortmund team head to their team hotel in the south of Dortmund on Saturday evening after their final training session ahead of their first home game of the season (7 pm dinner, followed by a team meeting, then to bed), Henrikh Mkhitaryan will be a member of the squad for the very first time.

image
Jürgen Klopp und Henrikh Mkhitaryan [firo]

Despite his injury layoff, the Armenian has always been with and around the team, traveling with them to the away games in Wilhelmshaven and Augsburg. And still, for the home game against Eintracht Braunschweig, he will be included in a squad for a competitive game for the first time since his arrival.

"If nothing happens, he will definitively be in the squad," confirmed BVB coach Jürgen Klopp who wouldn´t even rule out a starting spot for the new signing following the absence of Ilkay Gündogan. "It´s one of many options. We had an intense training game over 70 minutes on Wednesday, and he got through it without any problems. And his movements in training are also getting smoother by the day. He´s available for selection again, but I can´t say yet whether he will play." Four weeks ago Mkhitaryan suffered a torn ankle ligament in a pre-season friendly.

There will definitively be a change between the posts: Roman Weidenfeller returns to goal for BVB after serving a suspension, replacing Mitch Langerak.