Martin Harnik has played in two Bundesliga matches this season - in the third game day and last Sunday. Between those games was a five-month injury break. That was reason enough for WERDER.DE to chat with the Austrian...
Martin Harnik has played in two Bundesliga matches this season - in the third game day and last Sunday. Between those games was a five-month injury break. That was reason enough for WERDER.DE to chat with the Austrian...
Martin Harnik has played in two Bundesliga matches this season - in the third game day and last Sunday. Between those games was a five-month injury break. That was reason enough for WERDER.DE to chat with the Austrian, who was born in Hamburg.
WERDER.DE: Martin, how often in the first half of the season did you see a chance to play with the team but were disappointed about being injured?
Harnik: Honestly there were some games where I really was at odds about being in the stands because I saw a player from the second team get their chance and I sat around injured. I felt good for every single one of those guys. But of course it hurt quite a bit.
Since Sunday though, things are different. You are back in the middle of things. Now you have to concentrate on staying there right?
Harnik: That is exactly the case. Hopefully I have overcome everything. I hope I can stay injury-free this year. I have to fight hard for everything else.
You must be happy looking at the new situation in the attack. You are a bit more in the middle-point after the transfer of Boubacar Sanogo …
Harnik: I was surely the last one to hear about the Sanogo transfer. That day I had rehab the whole day and read the story at night while I was surfing the internet. When I saw what Klaus Allofs told WERDER.TV (eds: He recalls having Harnik as an alternative), of course I was happy. But things haven't changed. To be a regular with Werder will not be any easier now.
After missing half a year injured, is it not basically like starting over from scratch?
Harnik: The situation is similar but also totally different. When I made the roster I just thought: stay calm and show people what you can do. There were no big goals, no expectations. Now I see a chance to really establish myself. I start every training week with the goal of seizing that opportunity.
