Ivan Klasnic has played his first game in a Werder Bremen shirt since his kidney operation in March of this year.
Ivan Klasnic has played his first game in a Werder Bremen shirt since his kidney operation in March of this year.
Ivan Klasnic has played his first game in a Werder Bremen shirt since his kidney operation in March of this year. In a friendly game with the reserves against non-league SF Wüsting-Altmoorshausen on Thursday evening, the striker was involved for 45 minutes and hit the target twice in a game that was 7:0 by half time. The Croatian scored with a headed and a clever back heel before being replaced, as was arranged, at the break. The 26 year old was joined by Brazilian Carlos Alberto who also took part for one half of the match. The game finished 9:0 with the goals being scored by Klasnic (19’/24’), Martin Harnik (28’/31’/40’), John Jairo Mosquera (12’/37’), Julian Grundt (56’) and Marc Heider (80’).
After the game, Ivan Klasnic spoke exclusively to WERDER.TV and explained happily: “I was really delighted to have been allowed play today. I’d been waiting for this moment. It went very well although the pitch was pretty difficult to play on. You don’t forget how to play football though.” The front man admitted that it was a strange feeling having been away from competitive football for almost a year. “That’s quite normal. If you haven’t played for eleven months, you’ve got to get used things again. You need time for the routine to return to play. That gets better from minute to minute and the self-confidence returns with it. I’m really happy to have scored too”, Klasnic told WERDER.TV, who will present pictures from the game on Friday.
Following the success of the friendly, Klasnic is now ready for the next challenge and the next step: “I’ve always performed well under pressure and that is not a problem for me at the moment at all. I intend to put on the pressure so as to get back out on the pitch again as soon as possible.”
General manager Klaus Allofs, who was joined at the match by head coach Thomas Schaaf and central defender Naldo amongst the 1,000 fans at the game, was delighted to see the Croatian back: “Ivan look really mobile and scored one great goal. I see the performance positively without raising the bar for further tasks. Just like his first jog or his first training session with the team, this is another step along the road to his return.” Allofs was again wary of creating too much euphoria: “We will not be putting any time pressure on him. We are working without a schedule. Ivan’s participation tonight was decided at short notice and that’s how we’ll do things in future. We will both have to be patient together even if Ivan is raring to make his next step.”
