Tuchel would support Bundesliga title play-offs

Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel would support the introduction of play-offs for the Bundesliga title.

Dortmund won back-to-back championships in 2011 and 2012, but Bayern Munich have once again asserted their dominance in Germany, topping the pile in each of the past four seasons.

The Bavarian giants have won their opening three matches of the current campaign with an aggregate score of 11-1, with former German Football League (DFL) president and Bayer Leverkusen chief executive Wolfgang Holzhauser telling Kicker on Monday that championship play-offs were “more relevant than ever”.

Asked for his opinion on the idea, Tuchel said: “Why not? It would give the runners-up, third and fourth the chance to be champion.

“I do not think play-offs are far-fetched. I am basically very open to rule changes.”

Dortmund made a number of changes to their line-up, but ran out 6-0 winners over Darmstadt on Saturday, following on from a victory by the same scoreline over Legia Warsaw in the Champions League last Wednesday.

Tuchel expects to have the majority of his players available for Tuesday’s trip to Wolfsburg, but Andre Schurrle is likely to miss a return to his former club with a knee issue while Sven Bender remains sidelined.

“Schurrle remains out. He has not trained to ease his knee and today [Monday] we trained with very, very low intensity. Otherwise there are no new injuries,” said the Dortmund coach.

“[Bender] is still nursing the injury he picked up in the Olympic semi-final, with which he played in the final. He is still feeling pain in his ankle even without movement. He is yet to train with us.

“Wolfsburg always look very dangerous in their games. They attack down the wings a lot. We expect to see a team that wants to beat us.

“The next games against Wolfsburg, Freiburg and what comes after will give us a better idea of our competitive level.

“We made the most out of the last two games. Looking at the performances and the data, we can allow ourselves to acknowledge that. You need top performances to get results like that [successive 6-0 wins].”