Talk of a player strike should be looked at seriously amid increasing strain on professional football players, Borussia Dortmund head coach Nuri Sahin said on Friday.
Manchester City midfielder Rodri said earlier this week that players could be close to a strike over their increased workload due to the expanded Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup competitions alongside enlarged national team commitments.
“When players are already talking about strikes, you know it’s five to twelve,” Sahin, a former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Dortmund player, told reporters ahead of Sunday’s Bundesliga match at VfB Stuttgart.
“Coaches like Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have also been complaining about it for years. But nothing has changed. If the organisations or people don’t worry about it, then we have to worry about it.”
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Sahin, however, was happy his players coped well by beating Club Brugge 3-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday, with a full squad available for Sunday, except midfielder Giovanni Reyna, who suffered a groin strain earlier this month.
Dortmund lost three times to Stuttgart last season, twice in the Bundesliga, but have had a good start to this campaign with two wins and a draw from three games, while struggling Stuttgart have picked up only one victory in the league so far.
“We are travelling to Stuttgart with the aim of winning the game. We’ll be measured against that. We want to show a different face there than last season,” Sahin said.
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