Borussia Dortmund vs Schalke 04 - Marco Reus forced out of Revierderby by injury
Posted Saturday, November 07, 2015 by PA
Borussia Dortmund have suffered a setback in the build-up to the 87th Revierderby against local rivals Schalke by losing Marco Reus to injury.
The Germany international, who has scored five goals in his last three Bundesliga appearances, limped out of his side's 4-0 win over Qabala in the Europa League on Thursday night.
Tests on Friday confirmed that he had picked up an adductor injury which required a two-week rest period.
He has also therefore been ruled out of Germany's friendlies against France and Holland but could return for Dortmund's next league appointment against Hamburg on November 20.
In spite of the loss of Reus, Dortmund will be in confident mood for the most important fixture on the footballing calendar in Germany's industrial Ruhr district.
They secured their passage to the last 32 of the Europa League on Thursday and reduced the arrears on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich to five points last weekend.
"For us as a team, it was the priority to get a decent result against Qabala but of course we also know that Sunday's match is incredibly important to our fans," said Dortmund defender Matthias Ginter in the WAZ newspaper.
"And it became so important for us too as soon as the final whistle sounded.
"If we win, we move nine points ahead of them in the league. That would be incredibly important to us, both to keep Schalke at a distance and to cement second place."
Team-mate Ilkay Gundogan could not agree more.
"Everybody knows what this game means for the whole region, for the clubs and for both sets of fans," said the Germany international.
"We're all looking forward to it because we're in good form at the moment and so this game comes at a good time for us."
It comes perhaps just a few weeks late for Andre Breitenreiter's men, who were hot on Dortmund's heels up until a shock 3-0 defeat to Cologne a month ago.
Since then, the Royal Blues have won one, drawn one and lost one in the league, while their 1-1 draw at Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday was not quite enough to see them qualify for the knockout stages, with two more points still required to take them through.
A derby has rules of its own, though, and Breitenreiter is confident his side will at least acquit themselves well at the Westfalenstadion.
"The lads are going to give it everything," he said. "If we don't win, then at least we are going to have churned up every blade of grass."
Schalke forward Leroy Sane will be buoyed by his first call-up to the Germany senior side, which arrived on Friday.
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