BERLIN -Borussia Dortmund defender Yan Couto is making a speedy recovery from a knee injury he picked up in Monday’s German Cup first round, coach Niko Kovac said, but it was still unclear if he would be fit in time for their Bundesliga opener on Saturday.
The 23-year-old Brazil international was injured after a reckless challenge by Kelsey Owusu in second-half stoppage time of Dortmund’s 1-0 win over third-tier Rot-Weiss Essen in the German Cup first round with club officials initially fearing he could be out for a long time.
“Yan looked good today and he even completed parts of the training,” Kovac told a press conference on Thursday. “His leg is still strapped but he looked impressively good.”
Dortmund, who have qualified for the Champions League after finishing fourth last season, could, however, still be without fellow defender Julian Ryerson who is nursing a knock on the calf ahead of the league opener against St Pauli on Saturday.
Kovac, who took over at the start of the year and steadied Dortmund’s course, pushing them up from 10th in the table to fourth spot on the league finale, said he was eyeing a strong first half of the season this time to set the foundations for a good campaign.
“We only had three weeks of preparations,” Kovac said. Dortmund, along with Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, took part in the Club World Cup in the United States in June and had a shorter-than-usual pre-season.
“Our wish is to play a good first half of the season. No one knows where they are at the league start. But our ambitions are clear. We wanted to advance in the Cup and we also want to get points against St Pauli.”
