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.