Bayern Munich's Mario Gotze was "very happy" to be back in Germany's starting XI and get his name on the scoresheet on Tuesday.
Gotze scored his 17th goal in his 50th match for Germany in only his second start of 2016, as his nation beat Italy 4-1.
The 23-year-old was on target with a header after a cross from his Bayern teammate Thomas Muller to give Germany the 2-0 half-time lead at the Allianz Arena.
Playing as a false No. 9, the former Borussia Dortmund forward also played a crucial role in the build-up to Jonas Hector's goal that made it 3-0 when passing the ball to Julian Draxler with a backheel.
Gotze, who has struggled for minutes for his club Bayern, was withdrawn by coach Joachim Low after 61 minutes in what only was his second start in 2016.
He only featured for 54 minutes in the 5-0 hammering of Werder Bremen in mid-March, and remained on the bench in the seven other matches since returning from a groin injury sustained in October 2015.
"I am just very happy. It was important to be able to play again after such a long injury. It's great to be back on the pitch and score a goal," Gotze said in a postmatch interview with TV network ARD.
He added: "It's super that the coach put trust in me, that meant a lot to me. I am just happy now. I just wanted to play. I relished the time with the squad and the coaching staff, and to score here in Munich was the icing on the cake."
While in English media, Gotze, who is under contract at Bayern until 2017, has been linked with a switch to the Premier League, rumours of a possible return to his old club Dortmund have circulated in Germany for a while.
Suddeutsche Zeitung reported at the weekend that the attacker has made up his mind and has set his sights on a second stint at the Wesfalenstadion to revive his career.
But speaking to ARD on Tuesday, Gotze refused to comment on the rumours. He said: "Let's stay in the here and now. To me, it's just important to be back and we don't need to discuss other things right now. Time will tell."
The Bayern player also featured in Saturday's 3-2 defeat to England at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. But in the German capital, Gotze only came off the bench after 80 minutes and did not make any impact as Eric Dier headed home the injury-time winner for the Three Lions.
Speaking after the match, Thomas Muller said: "We did not manage to give it 100 percent, especially when it came to the unpleasant task in defence.
"We are only humans, and know that it's only a test match. It's OK as long as we win it."
When asked about suggestions that Germany might not have shown the right attitude against England, Toni Kroos, who scored the opening goals in both matches against England and Italy, said: "Every single player has to decide which attitude he brings to the pitch in friendlies. I play to win otherwise I could just stay at home."
Centre-back Mats Hummels said that against Italy "we've seen what happens when we all also bring the mentality to work in defence to the pitch."
He added: "You could see that we still get our chances to score. We had a very good mentality on the pitch, and that's what we need if we want to win something in the summer."