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Haaland back in action as Bundesliga returns from mini-break
BERLIN, Jan 1, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Braut
Haaland is expected to make an eagerly awaited return from injury as his side
look to battle back into the Bundesliga top four with a win over high-fliers
Wolfsburg on Sunday.
The prolific Norwegian prodigy has missed the last four league games and
the last seven in all competitions after picking up a hamstring injury in
early December.
Yet the 20-year-old returned to team training this week, and Dortmund
sporting director Michael Zorc confirmed that he would be back in action this
weekend.
“Erling’s recovery has gone well. We are working on the assumption that he
can play against Wolfsburg,” said Zorc.
Haaland’s return is timely, with his side in desperate need of a win after
a miserable run of form before Christmas saw them drop to fifth in the table,
eight points behind leaders Bayern Munich and two behind Sunday’s opponents
Wolfsburg.
Dortmund sacked coach Lucien Favre after they were thrashed by promoted
side Stuttgart in mid-December, before suffering a shock away defeat to
minnows Union Berlin in their second game under caretaker boss Edin Terzic.
Defeat to Wolfsburg would see Dortmund lose four home league games in a
row for the first time in 20 years.
“The most important thing is that we start well and end well,” said
Haaland, who has scored 17 goals in 14 games in all competitions this season.
In a season squashed by the coronavirus pandemic, many Bundesliga clubs
have had just a week off in the shortest winter break in the league’s
history.
Yet after their pre-Christmas cup tie was postponed until January,
champions Bayern have had an extra week to recover and are expected to waltz
past struggling Mainz on Sunday and defend their two-point lead at the top of
the table.
Second from bottom and without a win in six games, Mainz parted ways with
both their coach and sporting director over Christmas. Huddersfield boss Jan
Siewert will take the reins as interim coach against Bayern.
There has also been a changing of the guard at bottom club Schalke, where
new coach Christian Gross will take charge of his first game away to Hertha
Berlin on Saturday.
Former Tottenham and Stuttgart coach Gross has been charged with leading
Schalke out of danger and ending their miserable winless streak of 29 games.
Having not won since last January, the seven-time German champions are now
just two games away from equalling Tasmania Berlin’s unwanted record of 31
games without a win, set back in 1966.
One to watch: Manuel Neuer
Fresh from his coronation as the world’s best goalkeeper, the Bayern
stopper is just one game away from equalling Oliver Kahn’s club record of 196
Bundesliga clean sheets, a milestone he has been chasing in vain for more
than two months.
If he fails again to reach Kahn’s mark against Mainz, Neuer will have gone
nine league games without a clean sheet for only the second time in his
Bayern career.
Key stats
150 – RB Leipzig will celebrate their 150th Bundesliga game when they take
on Stuttgart on Saturday. They have won 80 of them so far, more than any
other German club at the same milestone.
50 – Weeks since Schalke’s last Bundesliga win in January last year. The
league’s bottom club are just two games away from equalling Tasmania Berlin’s
unwanted record of 31 games without a win.
10 – Goals Erling Braut Haaland has scored in his eight league games for
Borussia Dortmund this season. The Norwegian is set to make his first
appearance in a month against Wolfsburg.
Fixtures (all times 1430 GMT unless stated)
Saturday
Werder Bremen v Union Berlin, Arminia Bielefeld v Borussia
Moenchengladbach, Cologne v Augsburg, Eintracht Frankfurt v Bayer Leverkusen,
Hoffenheim v Freiburg, Hertha Berlin v Schalke (1730), Stuttgart v RB Leipzig
(1930)
Sunday
Borussia Dortmund v Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich v Mainz (1700)
BSS/AFP/GMR/0929 hrs