Raphael Guerreiro is grateful to be able to move on from a "difficult time" after returning from a four-month injury lay-off in Borussia Dortmund's 5-0 thrashing of Magdeburg in the DFB-Pokal on Tuesday.
The Portugal international enjoyed a solid debut campaign in the Bundesliga last year having moved from Lorient, playing 24 times in the German top flight.
But a broken foot sustained at the Confederations Cup in June resulted in his pre-season being ruined, and he was only able to make his comeback on Tuesday.
Guerreiro replaced Marcel Schmelzer in the 63rd minute of Dortmund's comfortable win and was full of positivity after getting back to competitive action.
63' Wechsel! kommt zurück! 0-2 October 24, 2017
"It was a difficult time," he said of his absence to BVBtotal. "But I'm very happy to have finally made my comeback. I feel good again now.
"At this point I would like to express my thanks to the club staff, who gave me great support.
"Of course, I'm not yet at 100 per cent in terms of running, but that will improve bit by bit. I need to build it back up.
"Nonetheless, I will now try to be there when the coach needs me. I'm very happy to have played again. I felt good and everything went well on the pitch."
