Barrios injury hits champions Dortmund

Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund will be forced to start the new season without Lucas Barrios after the Paraguay striker was injured in Sunday’s Copa America final, the German club said.

Barrios, 26, strained a thigh muscle after coming on in the 77th minute of Paraguay’s 0-3 defeat to Uruguay and the injury will not be healed “for two or three weeks,” Dortmund’s team doctor Markus Braun said on Tuesday.

Barrios scored 16 times last season as Dortmund, his club since 2009, powered its way to their first league title since 2002, finishing seven points clear of Bayer Leverkusen and 10 ahead of third-placed Bayern Munich.

The new season starts for Dortmund on August 5 as they take on Hamburg at home.