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Borussia Dortmund will be without 10 members of the squad when they host second-placed Hertha Berlin on Friday, with coach Thomas Tuchel fearing they will struggle to name 16 senior players. Dortmund have been hit hard by an injury crisis during the last international break. Defenders Lukasz Piszczek and Sokratis Papastathopoulos as well as midfielder Raphael Guerreiro returned from their respective national teams with injuries and have been ruled out of Friday's game. During the last week of club football before the break, midfielder Gonzalo Castro, winger Andre Schurrle and attacker Adrian Ramos also sustained injuries and will not feature on Friday, while Neven Subotic, Marco Reus, Erik Durm and Sven Bender are all making slow progress on returning from longer-term problems. "Right now, it's questionable whether we will even have 16 senior players available. We might have to add some young players to the squad," BVB coach Thomas Tuchel told his prematch news conference on Thursday. He said attacker Ousmane Dembele and centre-back Marc Bartra have been cleared to play on Friday, which means he has two fit central defenders, providing there are no setbacks. "There's another training session tomorrow. You never know," Tuchel said of Bartra, who had been sidelined with a groin injury since the 5-1 win at Wolfsburg in mid-September. "He will be in the squad if nothing happens, and can also play, but there is still a risk, so it's not clear whether he will start." Regardless of the injury crisis, BVB go into the match against second-placed Hertha as favourites, but Tuchel warned that Dortmund will need "patience" to break down the capital club's defence. He said: "They are also very effective in attack. We should not allow them any counter attacks."
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