The anticipation is growing in the BVB camp! Even Ilkay Gündogan, who will miss the top-of-the-table clash with Bayern Munich at Signal Iduna Park (kick-off: 1830 CET) through injury, can’t wait for Saturday to come.

“Bayern are the most difficult team to play against in Germany, maybe even the whole of Europe,“ said Gündogan, calling the Bavarian outfit a tough nut to crack. “But that’s a huge incentive,” he added.

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But he will not be able to help his team-mates on Saturday due to injury. The BVB midfielder stated he’s making steady progress following a spinal compression injury and a subsequent nerve irritation, but he also revealed: “I don’t really know exactly where I stand right now. I haven’t set a target date for my return.” The most important thing for the German international is to focus on making a full recovery before returning to the game. He said: “A nerve irritation is always a long-term affair.” Which is probably the biggest problem for the midfielder who calls himself a “very impatient person.”

Ilkay Gündogan is confident that the conventional medical wisdom, which says that following a complete healing of an injury players need the same amount of time to recover their match fitness, does not apply to him. He said, “Due to the nature of my injury I’ve been able to practice on my fitness for over a month now.” This keeps his confidence up.

That his chances for a World Cup call-up have probably increased following the cruciate ligament injury to Sami Khedira is not. “This is something I’m not thinking about. I want to recover completely, and once I have achieved that, I will come and compete for a place against all the other candidates who are also fit. That would be the best for us – and the best for Germany.”

The best Germany has to offer will be on show at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday night, including probably, for the first time in a Bayern Munich shirt, Mario Götze. “It’s still an unusual sight to see him in red,” said Ilkay Gündogan before adding in the same breath, “We are looking forward to meet him again. Mario is still a mate. We are still in contact, though not as much as before. I hope he’s not getting booed. But it’s probably unlikely that that will not happen. After all, in football emotions always go haywire.”