Defending champions Borussia Dortmund will wait until their final training session before deciding if Poland defender Lukasz Piszczek is fit to play in Friday's Bundesliga season opener.
Dortmund host Werder Bremen at their sold-out Signal Iduna Park stadium on Friday night and coach Jurgen Klopp has said he will wait until the morning's final training session to decide whether to use the 27-year-old right-back.
Borussia set a new record when they won the Bundesliga last season with 81 points and have lifted the German title for the last two years.
"We have a chance to look at him again on Friday morning," said Klopp after Piszczek strained a thigh muscle on Tuesday in training.
"It will be a close decision and we need to decide whether or not he'll make it."
Klopp is eager to start with his trio of Poland internationals against Bremen after midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski -- known as Kuba for short -- and striker Robert Lewandowski starred with Piszczek at Euro 2012.
Should he fail to be fit, one of Piszczek's possible replacements is Patrick Owomoyela, but the 32-year-old former Werder Bremen player pulled up injured in training on Wednesday.
There was some good news for Klopp as Germany midfielder Sven Bender started rehabilitation work on Thursday following surgery and is expected to miss only the first few games of the new season.