Gio Reyna Borussia Dortmund 2021Getty

Reyna makes Borussia Dortmund return after five months out with injury

Giovanni Reyna made his return from injury when he came off the bench for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga clash against Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.

The 19-year-old last featured for the German side in August, when he scored in the 3-2 victory over Hoffenheim.

But a muscle injury has kept the attacking midfielder out of action for several months until Marco Rose called on him to make just his fourth Bundesliga appearance of the campaign.

Article continues below

What has happened?

The United States international came off the bench to replace Thorgan Hazard at the hour mark of the match.

His side were already 4-1 down at Signal Iduna Park, with a Manuel Akanji own goal giving the visitors the lead, followed by goals from Florian Wirtz, Robert Andrich and Jonathan Tah.

Dortmund did manage to get one of their own when Jeremie Frimpong put the ball in his own net just five minutes after the opening goal.

How has Reyna performed for Dortmund?

Reyna had scored twice in the three matches in which he featured for Dortmund at the start of the season.

He played an important role for the side last season in what was his first full season as a first-team regular, making 46 appearances in all competitions.

Coach Rose was delighted to be able to include him in the team again following his recovery, telling reporters: "He really wants to be there, had another two good weeks of training. To see him back and to have his quality again is nice and important for us.”

But team-mate Marco Reus, who revealed his team-mates have a funny nickname for the youngster, warned that it will take a while for him to get back to his best.

"I hope he will have a lot more to offer us. He has been out for a really long time," he said.

"It will still take a couple of weeks until he is back to his best but he offers more opportunities in deep, variation in terms of tactics."

Further reading

Advertisement