As of today, Borussia Dortmund have spent a week in the Andalusian sunshine. Thomas Tuchel described the training camp in Marbella as "important for mental well-being", even if the absence of personnel means he has not been able to prepare for the second half of the season quite as he would have wanted. 

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Thomas Tuchel with his co-coach Arno Michels

"What we really wanted was to use these three weeks together to create a competitive environment and an atmosphere that would enable us to start our catch-up mission in the Bundesliga," said Tuchel. However, the absences of Marco Reus, Mario Götze, Ousmane Dembélé, Sven Bender, Sokratis and Roman Bürki – to name but six – have inconvenienced the coach both during the final friendly match against Standard Liège, a 3-0 victory, and in one or two training sessions that took place before and afterwards.

"None of them are serious injuries; some are even preventative measures, like in Mario's case," explained Tuchel, who welcomed Götze back to training today, is expecting to have Sokratis back in action in the coming week and has received the all-clear signal from Marco Reus. Tuchel said: "Marco looked more fit and stable than ever before. He told me: It's a completely different matter. It's not the same injury as before, it's the other leg."

So are things really that bad? "It has still served to dampen the mood," said Tuchel, "because we missed out on preparations with the full squad in the summer, too." However, it is important "not to focus on or dramatise it too much. We have confidence in all the players in the squad." He continued: "We can't wait around for everyone to finally be fit again. There is a high probability that the Bremen match will come too soon. It is therefore important to find the lads who are capable of battling in Bremen, Mainz and against Leipzig and of physically going to their limits."

"Marcel Schmelzer is and will remain our captain"

In addition, Tuchel brought an end to an "internal and much smaller issue – if it was ever one at all – than it was portrayed to be: Marcel Schmelzer is and will remain our captain. We all feel that Schmelle has been a top captain for us and that he will continue to be, too."

Boris Rupert