For the first time since 29. January 2017, Mario Götze was on the pitch playing in a competitive fixture for Borussia Dortmund, here against Wolfsburg. Götze went about his business well, contributing decisively for the first goal, and was heavily involved in the second. "We had a great game", he said satisfied after the match in an interview with BVBtotal!. He maintained though that it was "only the first, small step".

image

Mario, after more than half a year, your comeback! How does it feel to be on the pitch in the Bundesliga again finally?
I had never been out for such a long time before, so it is of course not that easy. I'm even happier now that it went so well. We played a great game, winning 3-0 away from home. It is still a positive and happy feeling.

The players in a team never really know at the beginning of the season exactly where they stand. Then you go and have a game like that. How much reassurance do you take from that?
It is the first game. You never know where you will go from there. It was similar for me at a personal level. It was my first Bundesliga game for a long time, so I didn't know exactly where I stood and how it would go. I think though it went very well for us overall. We have found it difficult away at Wolfsburg very frequently. Therefore, we can be very satisfied. We didn't concede any goals, picked up the first three points. That was the most important thing.

"It was only the first, small step"

What do you think worked particularly well today?
I think our attitude was very good. We got the goals, we were ice-cold when taking them. We played a good, well structured game. We had plenty of possession away from home. All of these things are very important. The team implemented excellently what the manager had asked of us on the field of play.

image

What do you take from today's performance for the coming weeks?
Ultimately, it is only the first game of the Bundesliga. But we have got the first three points, that is of course important. It is a good feeling to start the season in this way. However, we know there is a very long path in front of us still. It was only the first, small step. (djg)