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Replacing Erling Haaland remains the conundrum for Borussia Dortmund coach Marco Rose as he prepares his side to face in-form Anthony Modeste and Cologne on Saturday (kick off 3:30 p.m. CEST).
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It has been a successful week for Dortmund, which followed a 3-1 Bundesliga win at Arminia Bielefeld with a 2-0 win over Ingolstadt in the DFB Cup on Tuesday, with Thorgan Hazard answering coach Rose’s prayers in the continued absence de Haaland with both objectives. The brace will have given the Belgian a good start against Cologne after only being a substitute on Tuesday, while Rose’s options remain somewhat limited. Besides Haaland, he is still deprived of Raphael Guerreiro, Gio Reyna, Mateu Morey, while Mahmoud Dahoud is injured in the knee. With a UEFA Champions League clash with Ajax scheduled for next week, he will be wondering how to best manage his players. Youssoufa Moukoko is back on the bench while Dan-Axel Zagadou is expected to play for the reserves as he accelerates his recovery from injury.
Cologne comes to town with high confidence after recovering from two goals to draw 2-2 with Rhine rivals Bayer Leverkusen last weekend, with man of the day Anthony Modeste scoring a half. century of goals for the Billy Goats. The Frenchman scored another brace in the 2-0 DFB Cup second round triumph over VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday, meaning he again leads the attack in Dortmund. Coach Steffen Baumgart is also able to choose from a largely fit squad, with only Ellyes Skhiri missing with a fractured fibula.
To concern: Hummels and Bellingham scored dizziness as Dortmund beat Bielefeld
Match statistics
- Haaland has scored nine goals and assisted three of Dortmund’s 25 Bundesliga goals this season. BVB have scored five times in the three games they missed due to injury.
- Reus is Dortmund’s second best player in total goals with two goals and three assists.
- Dortmund have won their last eight Bundesliga home games in a row, dating back to April 3.
- Modeste is fourth in the Bundesliga scorers charts this season, behind only Patrik Schick (eight), Haaland (nine) and Robert Lewandowski (10). The Frenchman recorded a record of four heads.
- Jonas Hector is third in the division’s assists standings with four. Five would mark a better career in a single season for the former Germany international.
- Cologne was one of three teams BVB failed to beat in the league last season. Their 2-1 victory at Dortmund last November ended a streak of 20 Bundesliga visits without a win dating back to April 1991.
CONFIRMED Compositions
Dortmund: Kobel – Pongracic, Hummels, Akanji – Meunier, Bellingham, Witsel, Hazard – Brandt, Reus (c), Wolf
Subscribers: Hitz, Moukoko, Reinier, Malen, Tigges, Passlack, Knauff, Maloney, Papadopoulos
Outside: Can (muscular), Dahoud (knee), Guerreiro (muscular), Haaland (hip), Morey (knee), Reyna (thigh), Schmelzer (knee), Schulz (muscular)
Coach: Marco rose
Cologne: T. Horn – Schmitz, Kilian, Hübers, Hector (c) – Ljubicic – Özcan, Duda, Thielmann – Uth, Modeste
Subscribers: Schwäbe, Czichos, Andersson, Kainz, Schindler, Ehizibue, Schaub, Mere, Ostrak
Outside: J. Horn (hip), Skhiri (tibia)
Coach: Steffen Baumgart
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