On their last real training day in La Manga, the BVB players completed their normal programme, while Jürgen Klopp gave his assessment of the winter training camp in Spain to a large group of journalists.

According to the Dortmund coach, it has been an enormously important preparation for the second half of the season. Klopp said: “It went quite well, except of course the matter with Ilkay.” Following long-term injury problems, BVB’s midfield ace enjoyed a good start to the training camp before he was forced to return home early due to bronchitis.

“But all the others, including Mats, have taken a big step forward. It was very intense, we put in a lot of training, which is necessary as there will again be times where we will train less and rest more.” And in fact, there will be no break for the players as on Friday they will travel directly from La Manga to their next destination, Kaiserslautern, for their next friendly on Saturday afternoon, with the return to Dortmund only scheduled for Saturday night.

The last week of training before the season resumes will be held in Germany, and it includes a final friendly in Duisburg “where hopefully a lot of people will show up. We play this game for sporting reasons, but also, of course, because we want to help MSV Duisburg. I hope we will be able to make it a sell-out. We will go there with our full squad.” A few days later, BVB will then open the second half of the season at home against Augsburg, and this game will be “anything but a walk in the park.”