Dortmund’s Marco Reus: ‘How do you stop Erling Haaland? Good question’

He is Borussia Dortmund’s longest-serving player, having returned to the club of his youth from Borussia Mönchengladbach a decade ago. In that time he has scored more than 150 goals – putting him on the verge of becoming BVB’s leading scorer of the Bundesliga era – and he has captained the club since 2018.

He is in fine form going into Wednesday’s Champions League group-stage showdown with Manchester City at the Etihad, too, having scored three times this season. Yet Marco Reus is reluctant to be seen as some kind of figurehead for Dortmund, an emblem of the club he grew up supporting.

“It doesn’t reflect my character that I want to be seen as the face of the club or the star of the team,” Reus says. “My goal is to play in a style that’s best for the team. I’m convinced that if the team is playing well, each player will have the chance to shine and excel. My approach is to play the best possible way for the teammates next to me, in front of me, behind me.”

Many of those teammates, across the 10 years Reus has been an attacking catalyst at Signal Iduna Park, have shone to the extent they have earned big-money moves; several, such as Wednesday’s opponents Ilkay Gündogan and Erling Haaland, to the Premier League.

Reus, a three-times Bundesliga Player of the Year, has had no shortage of offers but none has persuaded him to leave his home-town side. “It has always been my dream to play for this club and to this day it is still my dream,” he says. “Yes, there have been offers from elsewhere, but it has always remained my top priority to stay here. The way it’s worked out is a great way.”

Dortmund are a club for whom a high player turnover is a fact of life. They have come to specialise in buying young prospects, developing