Bundesliga: Borussias do battle as spectre of corona looms

Borussia-Park plays host to the headline Bundesliga game of the weekend, as two of the main challengers look to stay in the title race and keep the heat on leaders Bayern Munich.

Borussia Dortmund arrive in Mönchengladbach in fine form, a team revitalised since the January arrivals of Emre Can and the prolific striker Erling Haaland. Four straight wins in all competitions, including victory over Paris Saint-Germain, makes them one of the top-flight's form teams.

Haaland looks to continue his remarkable scoring form, which has seen him net nine times in just four league starts, and Jadon Sancho will start following comments from Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke that the 19-year-old wants to stay at Dortmund for at least another season.

Haaland and Sancho have filled the void left by the injured Marco Reus, but Dortmund coach Lucien Favre has left the door open for the inclusion of Mario Götze, who hasn't played 90 minutes since October 5.

"It is possible, we will see. We now have an English week,” said Favre on Thursday. "He has been training very well and everything is open. Football sometimes moves very quickly.”

Rose waits on Thuram

With a game in hand on the teams around them, Gladbach are not exactly struggling for form themselves, having gone five undefeated. However, a damaging draw with Hoffenheim on Matchday 23 interrupted their flow.

The fitness of striker Marcus Thuram is a concern for Gladbach coach Marco Rose going into this game, with a knee problem casting doubt on whether the Foals' top scorer in all competitions will play a part on Saturday evening.

"We have hope with Marcus, but we have to look from day to day," said Rose about the Frenchman, who had to be replaced at Augsburg last week. "He is back on the training pitch."

Victory would see Gladbach leapfrog Dortmund into third, but Rose is aware that his defense will have their hands full keeping Haaland at bay. The Norwegian has "a good nose, speed and force," said Rose. "We just have to do it well that day.”

If Gladbach are to win on Saturday, it would end a run of nine Bundesliga defeats by Dortmund. Even sporting director Max Eberl admitted: "that streak is not nice”.

Spectre of Corona looms large

There is still the chance that in the future some Bundesliga games could be played behind closed doors or postponed due to fears over the coronavirus - but Gladbach vs Dortmund won't be, despite calls for a delay.

The number of cases in Germany has jumped to 534 as of Friday, with over half of those in the largest state of North-Rhein Westphalia. That has led to health experts calling for games in the Rheinland region - which includes the headline game in Mönchengladbach - to be called off completely.

"Full stadiums with tens of thousands of fans - especially in areas like the Rhineland which are now badly affected by the coronavirus - should from a medical point of view be stopped," said Christian Drosten, Director of the Charite Institute of Virology.

Borussia Mönchengladbach's stadium is less than 10km away from Heinsberg, the district most strongly affected by the virus in the whole of Germany, where schools and other public areas have been closed until at least the end of next week to contain the spread of the virus. Nevertheless, the DFL and authorities from the city of Mönchengladbach have chosen to go ahead with the game, a decision that has left some perplexed.

The Heinsberg district administrator, Stephan Pusch (CDU), expressed himself in a video message on Friday morning amazed at the decision of the neighboring city.

"I would like somebody to explain this in more detail," said Pusch. "For example, why the risk assessment determined a lower risk of infection (in the stadium) than usual.”

However, NRW's health minister, Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU), announced on Wednesday that the health department of the city of Mönchengladbach did not see any reason for the cancellation of the weekend's top game in the Bundesliga.