MSV Duisburg will be guests at KFC Uerdingen on Saturday. This is the current injury situation for the derby in the Regionalliga West.
As the leaders of the Regionalliga West and semi-finalists in the Niederrhein Cup, MSV Duisburg are confidently entering the final stretch of the season. One person whose chest is particularly broad at the moment is Malek Fakhro.
The striker scored four goals in the last four league games and fulfilled his dream of becoming an international during the international break. The 26-year-old played two matches for Lebanon and scored goals to be nominated again.
“He seems euphoric,” says coach Dietmar Hirsch about Fakhro, who returned to team training on Thursday. However, it remains to be seen whether the attacker will be back on the pitch for MSV in the derby against KFC Uerdingen (2 p.m., RS live ticker) on Saturday. After all, he has a long journey home from Myanmar via Thailand and Dubai behind him.
“I think he had a good seat on the plane. He has no problems at all, not even with jet lag,” explains Hirsch. Therefore, Fakhro is basically a candidate for the starting eleven. ‘We’ll have to see how he feels after the final training session. The exertions were quite a lot. We have good alternatives.’
In addition to Gerrit Wegkamp, Luis Hartwig can also feel addressed. The 21-year-old has not played in the Regionalliga for weeks, and his last appearance was at the end of September. But in the quarter-final tie against Ratingen last weekend (3-2 a.e.t.), Hartwig was allowed to play from the start and the former Bochum talent took his chance, scoring the opening goal.
Hirsch on the youngster: “He’s trained very well, you could see that in the game. He’s very hardworking and I hope he continues in the same vein. Then he’ll get more game time than he has recently, when the others have also done very well.”
Hirsch has two more options for the starting XI with Leon Müller and Tobias Fleckstein. The defenders have fully recovered from their injuries during the international break. That leaves only Jannik Zahmel and Jihad Boutakhrit out of the KFC squad.
The two long-term injured players have now resumed running training. They are not part of the squad for the time being. Zahmel is not expected to make a comeback until the new year. In Boutakhrit’s case, it is a matter of weighing up whether he will return to playing before the winter break. “We won’t take any risks,” emphasizes Hirsch.