Haaland to miss Leverkusen clash, promises quick return

Dortmund star striker Erling Haaland is expected to miss Sunday's top-of-the-table clash with Bayer Leverkusen, but promised social media followers that he would return to action "soon". "Can you hear it? That's the sound of me coming back soon," tweeted Haaland on Friday, along with a picture of him with his hand on his ear during a training session in Dortmund. But Dortmund may have to wait another week for their Norwegian striker, who has substituted off with a muscle injury during a victory over Hoffenheim two weeks ago.

Though the injury proved less serious than initially feared, Haaland is expected to be sidelined against Leverkusen. On Friday, Dortmund coach Marco Rose said that he thought it was "unlikely" that Haaland would return to team training in time for Sunday's game. "It will be very tight," he said, explaining that Haaland, Mats Hummels and Emre Can were all still training individually.

Hummels reportedly picked up a bacterial infection last week, while Can is also recovering from a muscle injury. Dortmund are hoping to keep the heat on league leaders Bayern Munich with a win on Sunday and pull even further away from third-placed Leverkusen. But Leverkusen went into the game in good spirits having won both of their last two matches.