“A real boost”: ‘Merte’ bounces back

On Saturday against Energie Cottbus, Per Mertesacker made his first Bundesliga appearance of the season as he returned from injury.
First Team
Monday, 15.09.2008 / 10:35

Less than ten minutes after Sunday’s training had finished, when Aaron Hunt – who was back amongst his team mates for the session – found himself back in the dressing room...

Less than ten minutes after Sunday’s training had finished, when Aaron Hunt – who was back amongst his team mates for the session – found himself back in the dressing room. At the same time, Per Mertesacker was pulling into the Weser Stadium parking lot. The central defender had a schedule of post-match wrap-up, regeneration and some physical nurturing to go through. It was a physical balm for ‘Merte’ after his first full week back, which included 90 minutes against Energie Cottbus.

 

“In the last 20 minutes I really felt the intensiveness of the last few days. They weren’t easy to just shake off,” explained the 24 year old, and he continued: “But it was exactly those 20 minutes that were a real boost for me as I try to return to form.” Mertesacker is well aware that he has a lot to catch up on, having missed out on the pre-season programme: “Physically I am still not fully fit, but that really couldn’t be optimal right now, I’m still working on that.” In spite of playing catch-up, the young defender could certainly be satisfied with his return.

 

Not quite as far along, but headed in the right direction, is also Aaron Hunt. The young front man was back in team training on Sunday for the first time in almost four weeks. Hunt’s lay-off was forced by a combination of calf and Achilles tendon problems: “It’s all good now. I had a little pain at the beginning, but after five minutes of warming up the pain had passed,” explained the 22 year old. Head coach Thomas Schaaf is “not counting anything out just yet but the Champions League game on Tuesday, 16.09.2008, could be a little too early for him.” Hunt himself is not about to jump the gun either: “It would be nice to be there, but if that isn’t to be then it’s not such a tragedy.” Not available at the moment is Petri Pasanen. The Finnish defender is currently ill.

 

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