Shinji Kagawa is set to miss Borussia Dortmund's Europa League clash with Atalanta after sustaining a foot injury, but head coach Peter Stoger remains confident of making it past the Serie A club.
Japan international Kagawa picked up the injury during the second half of Dortmund's 2-0 Bundesliga win over Hamburg on Saturday.
"We're waiting for the final diagnosis for Kagawa. It didn't look too good, but [it is] still too soon to say whether he is out for Thursday," Stoger told reporters at Dortmund's training ground on Monday. "He is also battling a cold."
Having only picked up two points in their Champions League group with Real Madrid, Tottenham and Apoel Nicosia, Dortmund were relegated to the Europa League with the worst-ever record of all teams sharing their fate.
However, following the dismissal of Peter Bosz, Stoger has turned around Dortmund's domestic season with seven consecutive undefeated matches, although they were eliminated from the DFB Pokal by Bayern Munich.
Dortmund hope to continue their good run against Atalanta but Stoger warned too not take the opponent too lightly.
"They are a very well-organised team that are uncomfortable to play against. They are within the same region of AC Milan in the table," he said.
"If it were AC Milan, everyone would anticipate a cracker but Atalanta are to be viewed in that same category. We have already identified some weak spots, however, it's possible that they have also understood where our problems lie. It will be an open fight over two games but we are confident to make it past them."
At the weekend, Marco Reus returned to action 259 days after injuring his knee in the German cup final, and Stoger now could field him alongside Mario Gotze and Andre Schurrle.
"It's certainly not a horror scenario. In the end, it'll be up to them if we can implement it," Stoger said.
"We are very far from ruling it out. They are extraordinary footballers. As we already said, we are trying to help every player to reach the level he was once. If we achieve that, then it's out of the question that they can all play together."