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Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE international midfielder Marvelous Nakamba missed his Belgian club’s opening UEFA Champions League group game against German giants Borussia Dortmund last night.

Nakamba is part of the squad at Belgian champions Club Brugge, who opened their Champions League campaign with a home tie against Dortmund.

The Zimbabwean has been struggling with an injury which also ruled him out of the Warriors AFCON qualifier against Congo in Brazzaville recently where the national team forced a 1-1 draw.

The Warriors were heavily depleted in that match with a number of players missing through injury.

Nakamba says he is battling to be fit for the back-to-back battles against the DRC next month which could effectively define the Warriors campaign for a place at the 2019 AFCON finals in Cameroon.

The midfielder has generated interest among a host of European teams — the latest being English top flight side West Ham — and recently saw a specialist surgeon in Spain on September 4, before flying back to his base in Belgium.

He has resumed serious training with the first team.

“It was sad to miss the game against Congo last weekend; but all the same, the guys did well to earn a good point,’’ he told our sister newspaper, The Sunday Mail.

“The good thing is I am now back training with my team, all is well, I am just trying to get back to full fitness pretty fast.

“I was in Spain to see some specialists and the process went well.

“It’s now just a few weeks left before I am 100 percent and good to go.’’ Nakamba, who is in his second season with Club Brugge, made 35 appearances for the Belgian champions in his debut campaign.

His absence from the team last night meant he missed a chance to rub shoulders with some of the game’s superstars like Germany’s 2014 World Cup winner Mario Gotze, who started for Dortmund last night.

Gotze was introduced in the World Cup final against Argentina in Brazil in the 88th minute for Miroslav Klose with his coach telling him to decide the match.

He struck in the 113th minute for the priceless goal and became the first                                                                                                             substitute to score a World Cup winning goal and the youngest player to score in a World Cup Final since fellow German Wilfgang Weber in 1966.

Marco Reus, another star for German football, also started the match last night against Club Brugge while Japanese star Shinji Kagawa started from the bench.