Sebastian Haller stepped up his football comeback on Tuesday after coming off the bench in Borussia Dortmund‘s 5-1 friendly win over Fortuna Dusseldorf.

Haller has returned to the pitch

The Ivorian arrives in Germany in July 2022 after several stellar seasons at Ajax. But shortly after signing with BVB, doctors discovered a testicular tumor and he was sidelined indefinitely for treatment.

Haller’s strict schedule kept him out of bed at times, but he was finally able to return to training with Dortmund last week and he is now in the friendly against Fortuna Dusseldorf.

The 28-year-old replaced a young Youssoufa Moukoko in the final 15 minutes of the game in Marbella, coming on in front of a crowd of hundreds at Ciudad Deportiva La Dama de Noche.

Dortmund continue to prepare for the second half of the season with a friendly against Basel on Friday.

Haller could make his BVB debut when Augsburg visit the Signal-Iduna-Park on January 22. Looking ahead, Borussia Dortmund host Chelsea in their Champions League last-16 first-leg tie on February 15.

The striker had a prolific record in his first two seasons with Eintracht Frankfurt, scoring 33 goals in 77 appearances.