Sébastien Haller has made his return to football in a friendly against Fortuna Düsseldorf just six months after he was diagnosed with a testicular tumour.
Haller made the move from Ajax to Borussia Dortmund for £31 million back in July but due to his illness was unable to debut for the club.
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The tumour was discovered just two weeks after he signed but now six months later, he has made a full and healthy recovery.
There are only 4 months between these photos.
Sébastien Haller is a warrior 💪 pic.twitter.com/lYjwcoa6hy
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 10, 2023
His appearance from the bench in Dortmund’s friendly on Tuesday was his first appearance for his new side. He was subbed on in the 74th minute in their 5-1 victory.
He will be aiming to make his full competitive debut against Ausburg on the 22nd of January.
In an interview with Bild, Haller revealed the heartbreaking moment when he told his kids about his illness.
‘I first discussed with my wife how best to explain it to our children,’ he said.
‘We looked online for tips and asked other people. We then found a way and explained it to them with a small video.
‘The hardest part was getting them to understand that while I’m fine right now, I’m sick and need to be hospitalised – even for a few weeks or months.
‘We wanted to be honest, the kids are smart and have good senses themselves, so we didn’t want to try to hide anything from them.
‘Luckily they took it well, I laughed a lot at home, played a lot with them. In the beginning it wasn’t like usual, of course – my older son often wanted to jump on me, so I had to tell him: ‘not yet’. But now everything is fine.’