Bartra could be back for Dortmund in four weeks amid Tuchel concern

Marc Bartra is expected to return to action in four weeks after he was injured in the attack on Borussia Dortmund’s team bus but coach Thomas Tuchel fears the team’s mental recovery could take much longer.

Three explosions occurred while the BVB bus was making its way to Signal Iduna Park for their Champions League quarter-final, first-leg tie against Monaco, with the match eventually postponed to Wednesday.

Bartra required surgery on his right wrist, but stands a chance of returning before the end of the season.

Tuchel stated at a news conference ahead of the match against Eintracht Frankfurt: “Bartra will be out of action for about four weeks. But he would have liked to play on Saturday if he could.”

Hello! As you can see I am doing much better. Thanks for all your messages! All my strength to my team mates, fans and to @BVB for tonight!

— Marc Bartra (@MarcBartra) April 12, 2017

Tuchel stressed ahead of the 3-2 defeat to Monaco that Dortmund would have preferred for the game to be called off altogether and he has now acknowledged it will take a lengthy process to deal with the attack.

“It was surreal, you try to help, hope to get to safety and try to calm down,” he said. 

“You call your family to say you are alright. You just want to get as far away as possible.

“This is the first day to really process it. Wednesday was like walking through a cloud. Dealing with this is a process that will go on for days and weeks. It comes and goes in waves. Today [Thursday] has been a bad day for me.

“We have to find a way to deal with it, but I am not sure how. We all have to deal with it in our own way. We all experienced the attack in a different way. A lot of players did not sleep. Some of them only really realised what had happened when they returned to their families. 

“I am sure the whole situation will have an impact on the upcoming games, but we are not concerned. We have to accept it and deal with it. Time will help. We do not want to bring every match from here on into the context of what happened on Tuesday. That would get us nowhere.

“But you are the best sportsman if you have no worries. Football is not as important as our families, living in peace, feeling safe and being healthy.”