Edin Terzić insists BVB did not risk Nico Schlotterbeck injury | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund are without Nico Schlotterbeck for the next few weeks, the club confirmed on Monday, but head coach Edin Terzić has insisted they did not take an unnccessary gamble with the defender’s fitness.

Schlotterbeck returned from international duty with Germany early last week with a hamstring issue but started as Dortmund lost to Bayern Munich on Saturday.

The defender lasted just less than a half in the 4-2 defeat and Terzić has addressed the issue on Tuesday.

“Of course it had something to do with the injury he suffered on the international break,” the Dortmund boss said. “He left there early, but back then in the first half of that game [for Germany] he felt something and played on until around the 58th minute.

“Then he came back, he was treated the first few days, we tried to build him back up.”

But Terzić insisted Dortmund did not roll the dice by using the defender from the start in Munich.

“It’s clear Nico is a player who will do everything to play, especially a game like this, but it’s not just down to what he says but we rely on the assessment of our medical department as well.

“Nico was in full training on Thursday and Friday with no more issues, otherwise we wouldn’t have played him, just as we measured the risk with Karim Adeyemi, so it’s annoying he will be missing in the coming weeks.”

The loss of the defender is a significant blow for Dortmund with the season now approaching the home straight but Terzić is confident the club can solve the issue, starting with the DFB-Pokal quarter-final against RB Leipzig on Wednesday.

“As we’ve always said, every player in our squad is important and this will give someone else the chance to show just how important they are to us,” the 40-year-old continued.

“Mats Hummels, in the last while, has obviously not been the happiest being out of the team after years as a regular, Emre Can can play in defence too, we can shuffle the system and we have young players too like Soumaïla Coulibaly, so we can find the right solutions without Nico.”

Dortmund travel to Leipzig, the current DFB-Pokal holders, hoping to continue Terzić’s brilliant run in the competition. The head coach has led Dortmund to victory in each of the eight games he has presided over in the competition across his two spells in charge.