Kagawa was the “influential figure“ against Freiburg

Shinji Kagawa (“I’ve got great support here”) was given a rapturous reception by the Borussia fans before kick-off, with the fans chanting “Shinji, Shinji” for minutes during warm-up. And when stadium announcer Norbert Dickel read out “No 7, Kagawa”, the crowd roared in deafening unison “Shinji”.

Exactly 854 days after his last game in a BVB shirt (13 May 2012, a 5-2 win in the DFB Cup final against Bayern) and 862 days after his last Bundesliga match (5 May 2012, a 4-0 win over Freiburg), the “lost son” made an astonishing return to his adopted footballing home. His first shot on goal came after four minutes and 22 seconds. It went over, but it was an early sign that he will add even more quality to the team.

Klopp: “Kagawa’s pass for goal was exceptional”

Kagawa, who has only been in training at BVB for two weeks, opened up spaces, looked lively in the familiar 4-2-3-1 system and took on responsibilities in attack. In front of a near capacity crowd at Signal Iduna Park (80,200), Freiburg sat deep and defended well in the opening 30 minutes before  Kagawa showed what he’s made of, something he was never allowed at Manchester United, when he cleverly set up Grosskreutz on the left who then crossed for Ramos to steer home (34 mins.). “The pass that led to the first goal was exceptional,” said Jürgen Klopp in praise of Kagawa.

Shortly before the break, the Japanese gave another reminder of his skills when he found himself in the right place at the right time to net from a pass by Ramos, putting BVB 2-0 up with his second shot of the afternoon (41 mins.). “He still has a nose for goals,” said Klopp. It was, astonishingly, Kagawa’s first competitive goal since Mai 2013!

With the Champions League match against Arsenal on Tuesday in mind, the Japanese - just like the rest of the team - took his foot of the gas in the second half. A more conservative BVB invited Freiburg to push forward, took few risks and sealed the game with a third goal through Aubameyang in the 78th minute. Kehl: “We expected to beat Freiburg at home, but we had to work very hard for it.” Oliver Sorg’s “silly” (Kehl) goal in the 90th minute proved no more than a consolation for the visitors.

At that time, Shinji Kagawa had long finished his day’s work. After covering a distance of 8.4 kilometres and stricken by cramps, the 25-year-old was substituted after 64 minutes, leaving the field to rapturous applause. He was called an “influential figure” by Jürgen Klopp, while Sebastian Kehl said after the game, “Shinji is good for us, very good, especially considering our injury problems. That he even manages to score a goal is something that you only see in football. But you could also see that he still needs a bit of time. He still has a bit of catching up to do to keep pace with us.”

Kagawa’s record at BVB: 70 games, 40 goal involvements

Jürgen Klopp added: “We will now ensure that Shinji finds an environment that helps him get back to his old self.” A look at the stats reveals just how important Kagawa is for BVB: in his 70 games in black and yellow, he has had a hand in a 40 goals. And, even more astonishingly, Borussia have not lost any of their last 26 Bundesliga games with Kagawa in the line-up.

The 25-year-old was optimistic about the future, saying: “We have a deep squad with a lot of quality. If we work really well together, we can be a force.”