Borussia Dortmund vs. Darmstadt preview: Marco Reus bids farewell
Borussia Dortmund
Dortmund have experienced a disappointing Bundesliga campaign, picking up 60 points from 33 matches to leave them in fifth place with one game left to play. Edin Terzic’s side are four points adrift of the top four and 27 points away from newly-crowned champions Bayern Leverkusen. Fortunately for Dortmund, the Bundesliga has been awarded an extra Champions League spot following the league’s success in Europe this season.
Die Schwarzgelben have ultimately been the Bundesliga’s standout performers in UEFA competition, reaching their first Champions League final since 2012-13. Dortmund will have the chance to win the competition for the first time in 27 years when they face Real Madrid at Wembley on June 1.
However, Dortmund must negotiate their final league game of the season before they can turn their full focus to their European showdown with the Spanish champions. Saturday’s clash will be an emotional affair, with Reus set to play his final home match as a Dortmund player. The 34-year-old has spent his entire career with die Schwarzgelben, but he will bid farewell when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Dortmund will be looking for a positive response after losing 3-0 to Mainz 05 last weekend. Incidentally, Dortmund won by that same scoreline when they faced Darmstadt in January’s reverse fixture.
Team News
Terzic has confirmed that Reus will start and captain the side in Saturday's contest. However, the Dortmund boss is unable to call upon Ramy Bensebaini, Abdoulaye Kamara, Julien Duranville and Sébastien Haller.
Darmstadt
Darmstadt will be pleased to see the end of a difficult campaign, having won just three of their 33 league matches. They suffered a demoralising 6-0 home defeat to Hoffenheim in their most recent outing. The result represented their eighth defeat in 10 matches and their third consecutive loss without scoring.
Having mustered 30 goals, Darmstadt are the second lowest scorers in the league, while they also hold the worst defensive record with 82 goals conceded. After being exposed at both ends of the pitch, Torsten Lieberknecht’s side are languishing at the foot of the table and 10 points adrift from Köln in 17th place.
They will hope to experience better fortunes when they return to the 2.Bundesliga next season, but before that, they have the opportunity to finish the campaign on a positive note. The visitors will attempt to spring a surprise and claim their first-ever Bundesliga away win over Dortmund.
Team News
Darmstadt are unable to call upon Clemens Riedel, Fabian Holland, Bartol Franjic, Fabian Nürnberger, Fraser Hornby, Braydon Manu, Aaron Seydel, Luca Pfeiffer and Gerrit Holtmann. As for Jannik Müller, he will serve a one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.