clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The Daily Bee (September 11th, 2019): Witsel and Hazard back in training, Sancho’s first goals for England and a rift between Favre and the team?

Does Dortmund have some major internal problems?

Energie Cottbus v Borussia Dortmund - Friendly Match Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images
  • Witsel and Hazard back in training

Axel Witsel and Thorgan Hazard have resumed training and could both play on Saturday against Bayer Leverkusen. However, the club won’t rush them back and risk further injuries. Lucien Favre’s job would be easier if he could utilize them both but we will have to wait and see if they can get ready on time.

  • International games

Jadon Sancho scored his first two goals for the English national team. The youngster scored a brace in England’s 5:3 win against Kosovo and added an assist.

In addition, Raphael Guerreiro started for Portugal in their 5:1 win against Lithuania, Jacob Bruun Larsen played for Denmark’s 2:1 victory against Romania and unfortunately Achraf Hakimi has missed the qualification for the Olympic games with Morocco’s U23 after their 0:1 loss against Mali.

Leonardo Balerdi also played for the first time in his career for Argentina’s national team. The center-back got subbed on in the 83rd minute in the 4:0 win over Mexico.

  • Hans-Joachim Watzke voted onto ECA board

Yesterday, Hans-Joachim Watzke was unanimously voted onto the European Club Association board. The ECA has various functions but mostly represents the interests of clubs in UEFA.

Sport Bild have published an article claiming there are some major internal problems at BVB.

First of all, Lucien Favre did apparently not back all of BVB’s moves over the summer, espcially the addition of Mats Hummels. The coach thought Hummels would not fit into BVB’ high line and preferred to keep Abdou Diallo. The decision to go through with the move was Watzke’s. Furthermore, the Swiss coach is also not the biggest supporter of Nico Schulz.

On top of that the team is said to be unhappy with Favre. One of the points of contention is apparently Lucien Favre’s unwillingness to rotate, players like Bürki, Piszczek, Akanji, Hummels, Witsel, Sancho, Reus and Alcacer are the core of the team and will always start when healthy. This has reportedly led to irritation within the team.