Manuel Akanji to Miss Several Weeks With a Muscle Injury

Manuel Akanji, who missed yesterday’s match against Schalke with a muscle injury, will now miss several more matches over the coming weeks, according to a report by Ruhr Nachrichten. The Swiss center back suffered a torn muscle fiber in his thigh at some point on Wednesday against Sevilla, which will take several weeks to heal.

According to the same report, Borussia Dortmund are hoping that Dan-Axel Zagadou, who has spent most of the year sidelined with various injuries, will be healthy for next week’s match against Arminia Bielefeld. Even though BVB fared pretty well against Schalke with a makeshift back line with Emre Can and Mateu Morey, I’m sure Edin Terzic would prefer to have two natural center backs in the backline, so that Can can reposition elsewhere, whether it’s at right back or in midfield.

According to the same report, Thorgan Hazard and Roman Burki are still injured, and the timetable for their potential returns is unclear. BVB are being extra careful with Thorgan Hazard. In their haste to bring him back in December, they ran him out prematurely, and he re-injured his torn thigh muscle. Dortmund seem to have learned their lesson: he’s expected to return to full training sometime this week.