Goetze: might not play at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Borussia Dortmund star Mario Goetze, whose appearance in Saturday's Champions League final remains doubtful because of an injury, played hide-and-seek with journalists on Tuesday.
To avoid the flash of photographers the youngster, who will be joining Bayern Munich at the start of the new season, pulled his jersey over his head as he left the Dortmund training field, which did very little to give any indication of whether he will be able to play against his new club in the final in Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, he had run laps by himself during a closed training session, although it had been planned that he would participate in the team training.
His only comment on the subject had taken place a few days ago, when he said on his Facebook page that he was "fighting and working hard for the final."
Goetze injured a thigh muscle during Dortmund's Champions League semifinal defeat in Madrid, that still saw them advance on aggregate though. "It would be very helpful if we could count on him," teammate Mats Hummels, who is also carrying an injury, told Kicker magazine on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old Goetze has created a media frenzy in Dortmund and this has only grown since his coach Juergen Klopp told Guardian newspaper that news of Goetze's move to Bayern had been like a heart attack for him.
Memories of the day when Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc told him about Goetze's move still causeed discomfort. "Michael Zorc walked around the training pitch as if somebody had died."
All efforts to get Goetze to change his mind were fruitless. "Bayern said to him: it is now or never. I told him that they will try again in a year or two, but he is only 20 and thought he had to go now," Klopp said.
As they expect with Goetze, the Dortmunder medical staff believe Hummels will be ready for the match on Saturday. The defender picked up a hamstring injury in Dortmund's final league game, which they lost 2-1 at home to Hoffenheim and missed two days of training as a result.
After a spectacular Champions League campaign the German international does not only want to participate in the final. "We can only become real heroes if we actually win the thing," he said.
Looking forward to the game, he said fans could expect a spectacular game. "I think it will be one of the most highly competitive matches-ever between two German teams."
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