Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland still uncertain for Champions League match with Ajax Football

sport">Haaland (21) was injured at the end of last month. Without the top scorer, who has already scored seven times in five league matches, Dortmund lost to Borussia Mönchengladbach. The team of coach Marco Rose then won against Sporting Portugal (Champions League, 1-0) and FC Augsburg (2-1).

sport">“Erling really wants to play,” Rose said on Thursday. “He is training again, we have to see how it goes towards Saturday. If he can start, he will kick off. If he can only play for a few minutes, he’s on the couch. We have won the last matches without him, but it is very important for us that Erling comes back. He brings us goals. We look forward to his return.”

More doubts

sport">Haaland is not the only doubtful case at Dortmund. Players such as Thorgan Hazard, Manuel Akanji, Mats Hummels, Thomas Meunier, Raphaël Guerreiro, Giovanni Reyna, Mahmoud Dahoud, Youssoufa Moukoko and Dan-Axel Zagadou were recently injured. Dahoud and Moukoko are definitely not competing against Mainz.

sport">“We hope that some of those question marks turn into exclamation marks towards Saturday,” said the coach of the number 3 of the Bundesliga. Rose said he wants to see more of former PSV player Donyell Malen, who is still waiting for his first goal in the German league. The international of Orange did score the only goal in the Champions League against Sporting.

—