Football
ESPN staff 7y

Mario Gotze makes Borussia Dortmund playing return after metabolic illness

Mario Gotze made his return for Borussia Dortmund as they overcame Urawa Reds 3-2 in a preseason friendly.

The Germany international has been sidelined since February due to a metabolic illness but came on as a second-half substitute in Japan.

New Dortmund manager Peter Bosz is not planning to rush Gotze back into action.

"First of all, I am glad for Mario himself, he has not trained or played for a long time," Bosz said. "We have to be careful with him.

"We are glad that he could play for 30 minutes today. He was also very happy about the game.

"Now we have to look every day as it goes on, and we hope that he can take further steps quickly and can play 90 minutes' football as soon as possible."

The game was Bosz's first victory since taking over from Thomas Tuchel and came days after a surprise defeat by fourth-tier side Rot-Weiss Essen.

"Although it was just a test game, I'm glad we won," Bosz said. "This gives us a better feeling overall. The game was better than on Tuesday in Essen, but that was not difficult.

"Urawa played very well, very compact, and caused us trouble. They could have scored more goals. I'm not satisfied with the two goals we conceded, because both are from corners, we have to improve.

"We have been in training for a week, it was very hot on the pitch and Urawa are in the middle of the season -- we have to be satisfied overall. This was a good test for us, from which we can learn a lot."

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