After 29 rounds of the Bundesliga campaign, second-placed Borussia Dortmund already have 60 points on the board – 11 more than they had at the same stage of last season. If they can add three more points to that tally against VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday, they will all but secure another season of UEFA Champions League football thanks to their 16-goal superior goal difference compared with SC Freiburg. 

But the Black & Yellows will be without Mats Hummels, Giovanni Reyna and Mo Dahoud, who were all forced off with injury concerns in the 2-0 away victory against VfB Stuttgart last week. "Mo has dislocated his shoulder, we've done an MRI on him," explained BVB coach Marco Rose, adding: "It'll take a few days but we'll treat him conservatively." Felix Passlack and Donyell Malen, who has not yet returned to training, are also certain to miss out. And there is a question mark hanging over the involvement of Raphael Guerreiro. In his case, a decision on a possible appearance will be made on Friday, "but it's starting to look like we'll have to do without him". Left-back Nico Schulz will return to the squad following his injury lay-off, however.

Opponents Wolfsburg, who are on a 13 Bundesliga match winless streak against BVB since the 2015 DFB-Pokal final, will travel to the Ruhr region in 13th place and with an eight-point cushion over the relegation play-off place. "They have stabilised, picked up results and occupy a comfortable mid-table position," said Rose of the Lower Saxony side. "It's a team that has quality and has not changed all that much since securing Champions League qualification in the summer." Last weekend, the Wolves ran out 4-0 winners at home to Arminia Bielefeld. "They have good players with decent tempo, a team with quality and recently boosted their self-confidence with a 4-0 win. But we have a home game. We want to perform with confidence here and make sure the fans have a nice Easter," said Rose, looking ahead of the match. 

A victory over Wolfsburg would also carry BVB a step closer to another objective. "We want to finish the season on the best-possible note. You take that final impression with you into the summer break and next season," said Rose. And Champions League qualification would almost be sealed with three more points too.
Christina Reinke