Jadon Sancho has been ruled out of Borussia Dortmund's Champions League clash with his former club Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
Dortmund's interim coach Edin Terzic has confirmed the England international is still to recover from the thigh injury that kept him out of the recent World Cup qualifiers against San Marino, Albania and Poland.
The 21-year-old former City academy star also looks doubtful for the second leg of the last-eight tie next week.
Terzic said at his pre-match press conference: "Jadon didn't join the squad. He has stayed in Germany and is doing his rehab in Dortmund.
"He has been running for the last couple of days and we hope it will not be a long time (for him) to get back to team training but he won't be available for the next week."
The highly-rated Sancho, who left City in 2017, is again likely to be a player in demand this summer after being heavily linked with Manchester United last summer.
Dortmund are fifth in the Bundesliga and failure to qualify for the Champions League next season could make it harder for them to retain their biggest names such as Sancho and Erling Haaland.
All eyes are on the #UCL! 👀 pic.twitter.com/r813qScBeL — Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) April 5, 2021
Terzic said: "The future is hard to tell. We have seven games left to qualify for the Champions League. It is difficult now but it is still possible.
"We will try our best to make it possible and at the end of the season we will see what is going to happen."
Haaland is currently one of the most talked-about players in the game. The 20-year-old Norway striker, who has scored 39 goals for club and country this season, is being tipped for a move to one of Europe's big guns in the near future.
City have been linked but his agent Mino Raiola was last week reportedly in Spain discussing potential deals with Barcelona and Real Madrid in the company of the player's father, Alf-Inge Haaland.
Terzic denied this has had an unsettling effect ahead of the quarter-finals.
He said: "It had no impact on me. I can't stop Mino Raiola and Alfie travelling. They are grown-ups and can choose whatever they want to do.
"I can just have an impact on Erling and we are happy to have him in our team.
"He's been back since Thursday, when he came back from the national team.
"The feeling was very happy to see us and we are happy to have him around. He is a lovely guy, his qualities are well known all over the world and we are proud and happy that he's part of our team."
Dortmund were beaten 2-1 by Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
Terzic, who has been given the job until the end of the season when Borussia Monchengladbach's Marco Rose takes over, accepts recent form has not been good enough.
"The criticism has been justified," said Terzic, who worked at West Ham under Slaven Bilic. "We've shown before we can do better and the task now is to face that criticism, accept it and show a reaction on the pitch.
"We have to prove we don't give up and show our quality and potential again."
