After a three-week winter break, the Borussia Dortmund first team kicked off their preparations for the second half-season with a performance diagnostics day this Monday. In addition to several players who have missed recent months with injury, Sébastian Haller was among the training group in Dortmund-Brackel having completed his cancer therapy.

Most of the BVB players were still in action until mid-December of last year – some of them were at the World Cup, while the rest of the squad went on the Asia Tour or trained in Dortmund. Having subsequently granted his players three weeks of holiday, head coach Edin Terzic welcomed the group back to Dortmund this Monday. 

But on the first day of training, it was the doctors and athletics coaches that called the shots. The players were put through several hours of multi-faceted tests in areas such as strength, mobility and conditioning. In addition, values were taken that provide information about their health status.

Donyell Malen was the first player to be put through his paces at the training ground. The players were still completing the series of tests in the late afternoon. Squad members who have been out injured in recent months such as Marco Reus, Mo Dahoud and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens were involved. Sébastian Haller also took a step towards making his comeback, having been diagnosed with testicular cancer in the summer. The attacker is set to be gradually introduced to the team.

The team will travel to Marbella for their winter training camp on Friday (6/1). They will play two friendlies in the south of Spain: the Black & Yellows will first be up against second-tier Fortuna Düsseldorf on Tuesday 10 January (16:00 CET), before taking on FC Basel in a match consisting of 4 x 30 minutes three later days later (Friday 13 January at 15:30 CET). Both games will be broadcast live on BVB-TV by 1&1. The first competitive game of the year will come against FC Augsburg at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK on Sunday 22 January (15:30 CET). (cr)