Niko Kovač explains decision not to start Serhou Guirassy for Borussia Dortmund against Bayern Munich
Borussia Dortmund’s line-up in Der Klassiker against Bayern Munich raised some eyebrows when top scorer Serhou Guirassy was left out. After the game, coach Niko Kovač explained his reasoning behind the decision.
“It takes a lot of energy when you haven’t been able to eat or drink all day, so I couldn’t play the guys today,” Kovač stated of his decision not to field Guirassy or Ramy Bensebaini from the start on Saturday.
The 54-year-old was referring to the fact that the Muslim pair are currently fasting during daylight hours for Ramadan. With sunset in Dortmund not until shortly after 6pm local time, it meant those players couldn’t fuel up in good time before the game, which kicked off at 6.30pm.
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“We have the data. You can see that when players can’t eat or drink that it has an impact on performance. I as coach need to take the responsibility and also look out for the health of my players,” Kovač explained further.
Guirassy is Dortmund’s leading scorer this season with 16 goals in all competitions, including five in four Bundesliga games prior to Der Klassiker.
He was replaced in the starting XI by Fabio Silva, who only got his first Bundesliga goal the previous week against RB Leipzig, but would come on for the Portuguese striker in the 67th minute and have a couple of opportunities to score and earn at least a point in the 3-2 loss to Bayern.
Bensebaini was forced into action earlier on, having to replace the injured Emre Can just before half-time, after the Algeria international had dropped out of the back three in place of the fit again Nico Schlotterbeck.
The Bundesliga has long had a custom of allowing Muslim players to break their Ramadan fast during matches once the sun has set.
In 2026 Ramadan started on 17 February and is set to end by 19 March with Eid al-Fitr.
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