Borussia Dortmund midfielder Nuri Sahin has been ruled out of Saturday's game against Cologne and remains a major injury doubt for the crunch Champions League meeting with Juventus on Wednesday.
Sahin, 26, has been a key part of BVB's revival in recent weeks, but sat out the goalless draw at Hamburg last weekend with an adductor muscle injury and has yet to return to team training.
Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp told a news conference ahead of Saturday's home Bundesliga game against Cologne that Sahin "will not be able to play," and it appears the Turkey international may struggle to be back in time for the second leg of their tie with Juventus as they look to overturn a 2-1 deficit from the trip to Turin.
"His injury has not improved, and he has not been able to take part in training so far," Klopp said on Thursday.
Dortmund are currently one point ahead of Cologne in the Bundesliga table and, despite their recent revival, are still only six points clear of the relegation playoff place.
Klopp refused to look ahead to the Juve match during his news conference and stressed that his immediate priority was moving clear of danger in the Bundesliga.
"It was incredibly difficult to find ourselves in this position," he said. "Games against direct relegation rivals are six-pointers, and there are no favourites in six pointers. We have to show that we want to do this. This match will be super-intense. We have to be ready for that."
Sven Bender, who suffered a minor injury in training during the week, has been cleared to play despite missing first-team training for most of the week, and left-back Erik Durm could return to the squad for the first time in 2015 after recovering from flu.
However, the versatile Kevin Grosskreutz will not be an option until after the upcoming international break.