Lucien Favre has resurrected the career of Mario Gotze

If there was one over-arching story in the first half of the Bundesliga season that was "feel good" it was how Mario Gotze has rediscovered some of the magic that made him one of the world's most sought after talents just five years ago.

Gotze's well-documented battle against his health and his confidence appears to be a thing of the past and the 2014 World Cup winner can look to Lucien Favre's creativity and vision as a major reason for his resurgence.

Deploying Gotze as a "False 9" has revived the German's once promising career. Maybe he is not the "Next Messi" that Joachim Low thought he would be, but Gotze has re-discovered the drive, determination, and skill that made him one of the world's most coveted talents.

It was only last spring that we speculated that Gotze may need a fresh start somewhere else. Maybe, we thought, Gotze should go somewhere with a coach who could invest in him to help the star regain his luster. It turns out that Gotze didn't have to leave Dortmund at all for that to occur.

While the start to the campaign did not offer much of a glimpse of what we would eventually see, it was during that period that allowed Favre to become familiar with Gotze and develop his strategy for how to maximize what Gotze had to offer.

The plan has worked to perfection.

Gotze has a goal and three assists in 15 appearances across all competitions, but has looked like a different player over the past two months. Filled with confidence, Gotze is now creating offense for a very potent BVB offensive group and offers Favre a different look from the goal-minded and opportunistic look that Paco Alcacer provides the squad.

Certainly the story for this season is not over yet, but for Gotze the first half has certainly been one to savor.

#BorussiaDortmund #Bundesliga #MarioGötze