Gotze detractors don´t surprise Tuchel

Thomas Tuchel says it is no surprise that sections of Borussia Dortmund fans whistled the returning Mario Gotze in Friday’s win over Freiburg.

Gotze played at Signal Iduna Park as a Dortmund player for the first time in 1,248 days and helped set up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s opener in a 3-1 win.

Reviled for leaving Dortmund for bitter rivals Bayern Munich in 2013, Gotze has made a stop-start beginning to life back in Westphalia as he regains full fitness.

Though he was widely applauded when replaced by Raphael Guerreiro in the 71st minute of Friday’s Bundesliga fixture, some sections of the home support jeered the Germany international.

“I think this is a normal process,” Tuchel commented post-match. “The whistles were not so out of the blue. 

“The absolute majority has expressed its solidarity and these actions show that the majority is behind Mario and he enjoys their full support. 

“But I cannot imagine that this is an ongoing issue, the overwhelming majority of those applauding is significant.”