"It will be a good competitive battle" - Friendly against Bielefeld on Wednesday

A satisfied head coach, a player returning to training, a mandatory break and the second friendly of this winter preparation against Arminia Bielefeld (Wednesday, 14:00) - that's what's going on with the Foals at the moment.

In twelve days, the time will have come: Borussia will host Bayer Leverkusen at BORUSSIA-PARK on Sunday, 22nd January (17:30 CET) on matchday 16 of the Bundesliga. The restart of league action is edging nearer and nearer for the Foals, who started their third week of preparation this winter on Monday. “The squad is currently making a very good impression,” explained head coach Daniel Farke, expressing his satisfaction with his squad’s efforts in training thus far. He added: “It’s about positioning ourselves well and using every minute of training. It’s good that we have plenty of competition and a lot of fit players – that’s something that we need. Of course, there are also some players who have just returned from injury and aren’t at one hundred percent yet, but they are all on a good road to recovery.”

Nathan Ngoumou is one of them. The Frenchman had to undergo a small operation on his eyelid last Wednesday. He had to sit out training as a result, but on Monday he returned to the pitch wearing an eye bandage. "It's good that he's back. The bandage looked spectacular and reminded me a bit of Horst Hrubesch. I asked Nathan too, but he couldn't remember anyone with the name," said Farke with a twinkle in his eye.

Mandatory break for Borges Sanches

Yvandro Borges Sanches, on the other hand, is currently on a mandatory short break. "It's nothing dramatic, but we'll have to wait and see with him. He has a slight irritation to his tendon in his hip flexor and will not be available for the next few days," said the coach. This means that Borges Sanches will also be absent tomorrow (Wednesday, 14:00 CET) when the Foals play their second friendly of the winter against second-division side Arminia Bielefeld.

Twelve days before the restart of the Bundesliga against Bayer Leverkusen, Farke also said the team is building into its final spurt ahead of the return of competitive football. "We built up our physicality at the start, whereas now we’re going into detail on our tactics,” he explained. "The friendlies are certainly the focus now and will have a heightened importance. Because it’s now about finding the starting line-up for the league games."