Julian Brandt: “My injury was shitty timing”

Borussia Dortmund signing Julian Brandt picked up an adductor injury during the Bad Ragaz training camp that sidelined him for the Supercup and DFB Pokal. He spoke about his fitness after the test against Preußen Münster.

“I’m feeling well,” the 23-year-old told reporters after a first-half cameo in Dortmund’s 4-0 win over Preußen Münster on Saturday, adding: “The 45 minutes against Preußen were important after the two training sessions I had with the team.”

“As far as today’s match, it’s good for all the players that didn’t play in yesterday’s cup game to stay in rhythm. I think it was a successful test with a 4-0 scoreline. Obviously, a few things could have been done better but we never played in that constellation before. So it was OK.”

“Due to the fact that I was out for two weeks and could only train individually for a while, I have a lot of room for improvement still. But I’m confident that I’ll make up for the lost time quickly. When the boys have a day off, I’ll put in some extra shifts.”

“It was shitty timing to pick up an injury during the training camp because I had to lay in my room for the most time in order to not further inflame the injury. It was quite boring but luckily, I’ve relatively quickly recovered.”

“I don’t think I’m so far behind. I could have played longer today but it was clear that I would only play for the 45 minutes.”

“Before I focus on my role on the pitch, I have to make sure to get to full fitness. Otherwise, the team stands above everything of course. They have to win the games and everyone needs to put his ego aside a bit.”

“Nobody should think everything will work out by itself now just because we played a good pre-season and won each game so far. Next week is when it counts and that’s how we’ll be measured.”

Dortmund will host FC Augsburg for their Bundesliga curtain-raiser on Saturday at 3.30pm CEST.