Dortmund and Munich sweat on fitness of Hummels, Boateng for topper

Bayern Munich are sweating on the fitness of Jerome Boateng ahead of their Bundesliga clash against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. Photo: Andreas Gebert/Reuters

Bayern Munich are sweating on the fitness of Jerome Boateng ahead of their Bundesliga clash against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. Photo: Andreas Gebert/Reuters

Published May 24, 2020

Share

BERLIN – Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich are sweating on

the fitness of their centre backs Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng

ahead of their Bundesliga table-topper on Tuesday.

Hummels was substituted with Achilles tendon problems at half-time of

Dortmund's 2-0 victory at Wolfsburg, while Boateng had to quit with

muscular problems late in Munich's 5-2 over Eintracht Frankfurt.

Dortmund's sports director Michael Zorc said Hummels has been nursing

Achilles problems for some time but added "we hope he'll be able to

play again on Tuesday," a statement echoed by coach Lucien Favre.

In Munich, they also hope that Boateng will recover quickly, with an

upbeat coach Hansi Flick saying: "He had a few problems but I believe

it is not so bad that he can't play. I believe it should be OK by

Tuesday."

Boateng and Hummels once formed central defence together in the

German national team highlighted by the 2014 World Cup title. They

were also paired together in Munich before Hummels returned to

Dortmund last year and is a team leader there.

Bayern enter Tuesday's match with a four-point lead over Dortmund and

with victory could take a big step towards a record-extending eighth

straight Bundesliga title.

Forward Thomas Mueller said "we want the title in Munich, where it

belongs," while Flick was a little more cautious.

"We hope Tuesday's match will be attractive. Nothing will be decided

after that, no matter what the result. The league is very balanced,

especially at the top, with attractive football," he said.

Both sides have won their two matches after the coronavirus-related

break and have shown fine form since the winter break, with Munich

picking up 28 of 30 possible points in the period and Dortmund 27.

"We obviously have a lot of respect for Bayern. But I'm personally

really looking forward to this match. And we're in really good form,"

Dortmund midfielder Thomas Delaney said.

dpa

Related Topics: