Two more of Borussia Dortmund's World Cup stars have returned as Marcel Sabitzer and Ramy Bensebaini began their preseason training on Monday with the mandatory performance testing.
Both players featured at the North American showpiece with Austria and Algeria, who were drawn in the same group too and went out in the Round of 32.
Since then, the BVB stars were on a vacation as the duo were handed some much-needed rest. Now almost a month later, Sabitzer and Bensebaini report back to work.
Borussia Dortmund's official website has posted some pictures showing the players undergoing their performance tests on a treadmill.
With the rest of the BVB squad is currently in Japan, neither player would be traveling thousands of miles to join them and would instead continue their practice sessions back at the Dortmund-Brackel.
Julian Ryerson and Gregor Kobel are now the only players yet to return. Both reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup with Norway and Switzerland respectively and have hence been given some extended time off.
Dortmund complete first training session in Japan
A day after their 2-1 loss to Fortuna Dusseldorf, Die Borussen flew to Japan for their preseason tour of the country and following some cultural activities, took part in their first training session on Monday evening.
The club has shared a few visuals of the squad in action that also features some of their returning World Cup stars such as Maximilian Beier, Felix Nmecha and Carney Chukwuemeka.
This marks Dortmund's fourth visit to Japan for preseason games, having previously done so in 2015, 2017 and 2024.
Fans gather to watch practice match
On Tuesday, Dortmund's training session was attended by a few of their Japanese supporters who gathered inside the Yanmar Hanasaka Stadium, where the BVB are scheduled to play Cerezo Osaka on Wednesday, 29 July.
Joane Gadou was ecstatic to see local supporters cheering them on, as he said:
"“The fans are all here just for us. We’re really happy about that. I didn’t know so many people here were supporting us. It’s great to see.""said the BVB summer signing
The fans also had a chance to interact with the players briefly, get their autographs and click pictures with them too as they made their way to the stands after practice.
Children from Cerezo Osaka's youth academy had also come to watch their open practice and were seen clicking selfies with the Dortmund stars later.
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