Dortmund striker Erling Haaland out with hip muscle injury

DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland will be out for “a couple of weeks” with a hip muscle injury, coach Marco Rose said Friday.

“Time to focus on my recovery. I’ll be back stronger!” the Norwegian wrote on Instagram with a “soon” emoji.

Haaland returned only last week from another muscle injury, scoring twice in a 3-1 win over Mainz before playing the whole game in Dortmund’s 4-0 loss to Ajax in the Champions League on Tuesday.

“Erling will be out, we’ll be without him for a couple of weeks even. He has a hip flexor injury which simply doesn’t make it possible for him to play,” Rose said. “It’s the same thigh, but another location.”

Dortmund’s next game is at Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday, and the next Champions League game is the return match with Ajax at home on Nov. 3.

“Erling was really down yesterday because he was happy to be back again,” Rose said. “That he’s out again is not good for us, it’s not great for the lad, but Erling will get all the support he needs from the club, from the team.”

The 21-year-old Haaland missed Norway’s last two World Cup qualifying games with his earlier injury, and the national team is back in action next month against Latvia and the Netherlands.

Rose added that Dortmund also has new injuries to two fullbacks. Belgium right back Thomas Meunier can’t train because of a problem with his foot and left back Nico Schulz has a muscle fiber injury.