Down to the bare bones – BVB face Mainz with hardly any defensive options | OneFootball

FC Bayern Munich was able to extend their temporarily halved lead over Borussia Dortmund back to six points on Sunday with a 5-1 win against TSG Hoffenheim. However, on Friday evening, BVB will have the next opportunity to put pressure on the league leaders, who will only be in action the following day at Werder Bremen. Nevertheless, the personnel situation ahead of the home game against 1. FSV Mainz 05 is not ideal for Borussia.

After the unexpected departure of Aarón Anselmino, two more defensive players, Filippo Mane (muscle injury) and Emre Can (adductor problems), have recently joined the injury list, leaving coach Niko Kovac with limited options even last weekend during the 2-1 victory in Wolfsburg. There, Nico Schlotterbeck also picked up his fifth yellow card and will have to sit out against Mainz as well.

Reggiani and Ryerson as Options

This leaves only three established options for the back three: Niklas Süle, Waldemar Anton, and Ramy Bensebaini. The 18-year-old Luca Reggiani, who made a brief professional debut in Wolfsburg, will likely take a spot on the bench as backup once again. In a pinch, coach Kovac would probably first move Julian Ryerson, a trained full-back, into the back three—provided that Yan Couto, who had to leave Wolfsburg due to illness, is fit to play again as an alternative to Ryerson.

It is clear that there should be no further losses in the defensive line during the upcoming training days or in the match against Mainz. Otherwise, a serious problem could arise, which might have consequences against a strong opponent.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.