German international Reus poised for Dortmund return

Berlin (AFP) – Injury-prone German international winger Marco Reus could make his return after torn cruciate knee ligaments for Borussia Dortmund on Saturday against strugglers Hamburg, just four months out from the World Cup.

Reus, 28, has been sidelined since last May’s German Cup final, when Dortmund beat Eintracht Frankfurt in Berlin, and has been working his way back to fitness in recent weeks.

He could feature in Saturday’s squad but head coach Peter Stoeger says a decision will only be made closer to the Bundesliga game.

German daily Bild say Reus had targeted the away game at Borussia Moenchengladbach on February 18 — but he might feature sooner than planned.

“Marco trained normally over the week, we know he wants to play and he knows that we would like to have him in,” said Stoeger on Thursday.

“We will make a decision at short notice.”

While Dortmund are reluctant to rush the injury-prone Reus back into action, the attacking midfielder is keen to find form and fitness four months out from the World Cup in Russia.

A string of injuries have restricted him to 29 international appearances and nine goals for Germany.

Injuries have seen him miss the last two major international tournaments.

An ankle injury suffered in the final warm-up game ruled the fleet-footed playmaker out of eventual champions Germany’s 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

He then missed the finals of Euro 2016 with a persistent groin injury.