Peter Bosz has vowed to be "careful" with Mario Gotze as the Borussia Dortmund playmaker makes his way back to full fitness.
Gotze made his first appearance since February as Dortmund defeated Japanese side Urawa Reds 3-2 in a pre-season friendly on Saturday.
The Germany international, who scored the winner in the 2014 World Cup final, is recovering from a metabolic disorder and Bosz will not rush his return.
"First of all, I am glad for Mario himself, he has not trained or played for a long time," Bosz said.
"We have to be careful with him.
"We are glad that he could play for 30 minutes today. He was also very happy about the game.
"Now we have to look every day as it goes on, and we hope that he can take further steps quickly and can play 90 minutes' football as soon as possible."
#urawabvb July 15, 2017
Dortmund were beaten by fourth-tier German team Rot-Weiss Essen in their previous pre-season friendly and new coach Bosz was pleased to get a first win under his belt after succeeding Thomas Tuchel.
"Although it was just a test game, I'm glad we won," Bosz added. "This gives us a better feeling overall. The game was better than on Tuesday in Essen, but that was not difficult.
"Urawa played very well, very compact, and caused us trouble. They could have scored more goals. I'm not satisfied with the two goals we conceded, because both are from corners, we have to improve.
"We have been in training for a week, it was very hot on the pitch and Urawa are in the middle of the season - we have to be satisfied overall. This was a good test for us, from which we can learn a lot."
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