The China Tour is over. Following nine days in Asia, the team will be returning to German soil on Friday afternoon. Those in charge drew a positive conclusion, and there was a sense that the sporting expectations of the tour had been fulfilled too.

"It was a very intense match, with both teams defending high up the pitch and both creating a lot of chances," said Thomas Tuchel after the match against Manchester City, which his charges lost on penalties. He added: "We showed extraordinary spirit, the lads put in an impressive performance in both halves. I am satisfied with what I have seen."

However, the first team's return to German soil following the China Tour will only be brief. Next week will see the start of Phase II of the club's long pre-season preparations for the upcoming campaign, which begins in four weeks. For that, the remaining EURO 2016 participants – Julian Weigl, Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski – will be re-joining the team, while Raphael Guerreiro, Mario Götze and André Schürrle are set to begin their BVB careers too.

On Wednesday the squad will head to their training camp in Bad Ragaz, where they have put the finishing touches to their preparations since 2011. There Thomas Tuchel will have the chance to work with the entire squad – except for Marco Reus, who is set to return to training in Mid-August – and to instil his philosophy. The coach said: "Regardless of where the ball is, we want it. The most important thing is that you can get yourself into situations and react to them." During the club's eight-day stay in Switzerland, there will be two high-quality friendly matches: on 5 August, (18:45 CET at the Cashpoint Arena in Altach, Austria) BVB will face Sunderland, before taking on last year's Europa League quarter-finalists Athletic Bilbao on 9 August (18:45 CET in the AFG Arena in St. Gallen).

Boris Rupert