Degen blow adds to Dortmund troubles

Borussia Dortmund's woes have been heightened by the loss of defender Philipp Degen to injury.

The 23-year-old Swiss full-back now faces up to a month on the sidelines after tearing muscle fibres in his thigh early in the 0-0 draw with Alemannia Aachen yesterday.

His loss compounds the problems for coach Bert van Marwijk, who has seen his side slip to ninth in the table having managed just one win in their past seven fixtures.

"I cannot count how many chances we had tonight with each one better than the other," he said.

The fans at the Signal Iduna Park made their feelings clear with a barrage of boos at the final whistle, while evidence of the discontent is provided by the number of people choosing to stay away.

Just two weeks ago 75,100 saw their 1-1 draw with Bochum, dropping to 74,300 and 67,500 for their last two games.

On Friday night they travel to Bundesliga leaders Werder Bremen without Degen, Christoph Metzelder, Sebastian Kehl and Lars Ricken.