Who will fill the two holding positions for Borussia Dortmund when the Bundesliga resumes business with a trip to Leverkusen in nine days’ time? That has been one of the most discussed issues in the media recently. Following a strong performance against Utrecht, Matthias Ginter has put himself into contention for a starting role. After Wednesday’s game, the Germany international answered to questions from the press.

How would you sum up the friendly against Utrecht?

Compared to the previous games, we put in an improved performance and were able to put to practice some on the things we had worked on in training.

Is your best chance for a starting berth a midfield holding role following the injuries to Sebastian Kehl and Sven Bender?

That’s up to the coach to decide. I can play in a holding role but also at centre back.

But the midfield holding role is an option, isn’t it?

I played in this role on a number of occasions, so I’m familiar with it and don’t have any problems there.

How important is it that there are a lot more players able to take part in the preparation period compared to last summer?

We’ve now had two and a half weeks of training, with one and a half to go. It’s good for me and it’s good for the team that we are able to practice together and work on certain things in training. We have another few days left before the league resumes to improve and develop further.