Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel said he benched Mario Gotze and played United States international Christian Pulisic to take advantage of the youngster's speed.
Gotze, 24, sat for the 90 minutes as Borussia Dortmund picked up all three points at Werder Bremen on Saturday as United States international Christian Pulisic, 18, got the nod ahead of the Germany star.
"We made the decision to play with two out-and-out wing forwards today," Tuchel, who played with Gonzalo Castro and Shinji Kagawa in central midfield and Marco Reus on the other wing, told reporters following the hard-fought 2-1 win against 10-man Werder Bremen.
"Mario played in that position in [BVB's 6-1 friendly win at] Paderborn but it isn't his natural position," Tuchel said. "We therefore decided to go with Christian Pulisic, because he is a specialist wing player who has a lot of pace."
Earlier this month, Gotze said in an interview that he no longer sees himself as the attacking player he once was when he broke into the BVB team under Jurgen Klopp around the turn of the century.
He said: "I had a different role then, played in a different position. The No. 8 position is my favourite position. That's no secret."
Dortmund moved up to fourth in the Bundesliga standings following their win at Bremen, and despite not living up to their potential in recent months, they have only lost one of their last 16 matches in all competitions.