Tuchel: Sahin still has a role to play at Borussia Dortmund

Thomas Tuchel is adamant Nuri Sahin still has a role to play at Borussia Dortmund despite his limited opportunities this season.

The Turkey international has yet to make a single appearance for Dortmund this campaign and was also left out of the squad for Wednesday’s Champions League trip to Legia Warsaw.

“The competition for places is tough, but I’m certain that Nuri will play a role for us,” Tuchel said at a news conference.

“We need his personality and professionalism.

“He narrowly missed out this time. [Matthias] Ginter for example is a bit more versatile, whereas Nuri is a real central midfielder.”

Legia have been struggling domestically in 2016-17 and sit fourth bottom in the Ekstraklasa after eight games, but Tuchel has warned Dortmund cannot afford to underestimate their opponents.

“It is difficult to analyse Legia deeply as they rotate their squad quite a lot,” he added.

“The fact they have some problems in their domestic league will not affect them badly in my opinion. Maybe the opposite. The Champions League is different competition from the domestic league.

“Also, Legia fans who waited so much time to be back in this competition will help their team enormously. That is also why I expect a good game from Legia. We expect a tough and even match.

“We’re certain that we’ll need a top performance tomorrow. We have to move on from the defeat against Red Bull Leipzig. We are now focused on Legia.”