Marcel Schmelzer is set to return to the Borussia Dortmund squad for the home game against Hertha BSC Berlin on Saturday afternoon after six weeks on the sidelines.

“He came through the last session without any problems,” said Jürgen Klopp on Schmelzer. The BVB coach was also delighted at the progress of Ilkay Gündogan. “He is already able to do a relatively high volume of training, and has even joined in parts of normal training,” said Klopp, while making clear that Gündogan “is not an option yet”, and “a return to Bundesliga action is currently unrealistic”.

Sven Bender is also set to miss Borussia’s final match of 2013. Klopp: “It’s going to be very, very close.” The BVB coach is also having injury concerns over Sebastian Kehl and Jakub Blaszczykowski who both picked up niggles in training on Wednesday. “If that hadn’t happened, it would have been a great training week as we were able to do a lot of technical work,” said Klopp on Thursday.