Four players expected to return to team training this week

With the exception of the five players still away on international duty, the Foals began preparations on Tuesday for the upcoming Rhine Derby against 1. FC Köln (22nd October, 15:30 CEST).

The first session of the week saw Jordan return to team training for the first time since recovering from illness. Nico Elvedi was also able to return after having been sidelined with a sprained knee. Florian Neuhaus (workload management), Christoph Kramer (MCL strain) and Julian Weigl (knee ligament strain) are all expected to be eased back into team training this week. “We will integrate Nico, Flo, Chris and Jule back into team training this week,” said head coach Gerardo Seoane. “We hope that all four will be an option for us this weekend.”

In addition to Jonas Omlin (recovering from shoulder surgery) and Tony Jantschke (muscle issues), Tobias Sippel, Hannes Wolf and Yvandro Borges Sanches all missed today’s session. Sippel overextended his elbow prior to last week’s friendly against Sint-Truidense VV, while Wolf suffered a meniscus tear in his right knee against the Belgian first-tier side. He has since undergone surgery and will be sidelined for the foreseeable future. Yvandro Borges Sanches returned home early from international duty at the end of last week after picking up a thigh muscle injury.

Four internationals are already back

Having fulfilled their international duties, Luca Netz, Rocco Reitz, Fabio Chiarodia and Tomáš Čvančara have all already returned to Mönchengladbach. In the course of the next few days, Max Wöber, who qualified for EURO 2024 with Austria yesterday, will return to team training alongside Grant-Leon Ranos (Armenia), Ko Itakura (Japan), Joe Scally (USA) und Simon Walde (Germany U19s), who are all still with their respective international squads. “Given that the derby in Cologne isn’t until Sunday, we’ll have two days to prepare for the game with the whole squad, which is a real positive for us,” said Seoane.

A public training session is on the agenda for the Foals on Wednesday (10:30 CEST), while the training sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday will not be open to the public, as Seoane wants to use them to work on tactics with his team. Borussia will then play their eighth Bundesliga game of the season against 1. FC Köln on Sunday (15:30 CEST). “Derbies are different from normal matches in the sense that they are more emotionally charged. You don’t forget derbies quickly and that’s why we are so looking forward to this great challenge,” said Seoane.