Marco Reus is expected to miss Borussia Dortmund s Klassiker showdown with Bayern Munich.
Dortmund s fierce rivals can secure a sixth consecutive Bundesliga title on Saturday if Schalke fail to beat Freiburg and Jupp Heynckes men go on to triumph at the Allianz Arena.
Although Bayern s procession to the title has long been a formality, having Germany forward Reus available to delay the inevitable would have been a welcome boost to boss Peter Stoger.
However, 28-year-old s injury curse continues to plague him and he has not made sufficient progress in rehabilitation from an adductor problem.
He hasn t practiced with the team yet, Stoger told a pre-match news conference. I doubt that he will be fit for Saturday.
Another of Germany s most gifted natural talents to have been compromised by fitness struggles is Mario Gotze, who is in his second season back at Dortmund after a mixed time at Bayern.
The 25-year-old, who scored the winner in the 2014 World Cup final against Argentina, was left out of Joachim Low s squad for friendlies with Spain and Brazil over the past week.
He doesn t seem too depressed, Stoger said of Gotze s omission. I think he knows that he still has a chance [to make the World Cup].
I m not making it that easy for Bayern so I m not going to say [if Gotze will play on Saturday].
Great to have you back on the pitch
— Mario Götze (@MarioGoetze)
Dortmund have lost 4-1 and 5-1 on their past two Bundesliga visits to Bayern and Stoger is keen to make life a lot more difficult and crash any potential champions party.
Them lifting the title on Saturday, that s not our plan, he said. Bayern, of course want to be the best team in Germany but we have the ambition [this season] to be the second-best team in Germany.
They are a great team with a lot of individual class. They have a lot of experienced players who can deal with setbacks within a game.
First, we need to show our full effort in the defensive department. Then, you need to break Bayern s rhythm with your own phases of possession.
I have a lot of respect for this team [Dortmund], knowing what a tough season it is. They are working very hard on reaching our minimum aim – Champions League qualification.
Omer Toprak is unlikely to be part of that defensive effort having been unable to train this week, meaning Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Manuel Akanji are Dortmund s expected starters at centre-back.
Shinji Kagawa (ankle), Andriy Yarmolenko (Achilles), Dan-Axel Zagadou (hamstring), Erik Durm (ankle) and Sebastian Rode (groin) all remain sidelined.
