Borussia Dortmund will be without Marco Reus for their DFB cup tie at 1. FC Saarbrücken on Tuesday (kick-off: 2030 CET). The striker has not made the trip to Saarland due to a bruised calf. With the injury list of the first-team squad growing, Jürgen Klopp called up a number of under-23 players to first-team training. 

“We are so nice to injure ourselves down to the opposition’s level,“ the Dortmund coach said half-jokingly on Saturday after the hard-fought 3-1 win over Mainz in the Bundesliga. A decision on whether Sven Bender or Nuri Sahin, who are both suffering from muscle problems, will only be made on Tuesday, with the same applying to Jakub Blaszczykowski (hip problem) and Robert Lewandowski (bruised foot). Ilkay Gündogan, Neven Subotic, Mats Hummels and Marcel Schmelzer remain unavailable, and Lukasz Piszczek is expected to be given a break. With this in mind, Jürgen Klopp said: “We will field our best possible team.”

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Mitch Langerak and Erik Durm

On a positive note, Erik Durm is expected to be fit for Saarbrücken after falling on his shoulder against Mainz. Klopp said on Monday: “It didn’t sound to me like there is reason for concern.”

In Marvin Ducksch (attack), Marian Sarr, Koray Günter and Jannik Bandowski (defence) as well as Tammo Harder and Mustafa Amini (midfield) Klopp called up a total of six under-23 players for the final training session on Monday afternoon. “We don’t know yet who we’ll have available and as the reserve side had a day off this was the way to go.”

Due to the injury situation and the importance of the game, Klopp is not planning to rest any players in spite of their busy schedule of late. “This is not an option due to the ambitions the two clubs have in this competition.” Only Lukasz Piszczek, who on Saturday played his first full 90 minutes since the Champions League final against Bayern Munich, could be given a rest. Klopp said: “We will have to see whether it’s good for him to have another tough test so quickly again.”

However, there could be a change in goal as Mitch Langerak, who already played the first two cup ties to get match practice when Roman Weidenfeller was due to serve a suspension for the following games in the league (Augsburg) and in Europe (Marseille), could be given a starting berth again. “This matter will be discussed with the goalkeeping coach,” said Klopp.