After eight absences in the recent league match in Berlin against Hertha BSC, those responsible at Bayer hope that one or the other player will return on Saturday against Bochum. Winger Karim Bellarabi, at least, is confident that this will work out for him
When coach Gerardo Seoane called for the session on Monday afternoon, almost all of the players who had been struggling recently were missing. No Florian Wirtz, no Lucas Alario, no Patrik Schick, no Charles Aranguiz – only Karim Bellarabi from the quintet of potential returnees made his way with his colleagues to training ground 1, where he worked individually with athletics coach Daniel Jouvin.
A bad sign as far as the deployment of the missing quartet on Saturday against VfL Bochum is concerned? Not at all. Six-man Aranguiz (after a muscle tendon injury in his calf), centre-forward Schick (after tearing ligaments in his ankle) and ten-man Wirtz (groin and hip problems) had already completed their workload with Jouvin during the day.
Bellarabi now first completed coordination exercises, then rehearsed dribblings, goal kicks, sharp passes and, finally, acceleration runs. Afterwards, he gave positive signals for Saturday. “Everything feels good,” says the right winger, who is completely free of complaints, “I don’t notice anything anymore. I hope to be ready again for the weekend. My goal is to be an option again against Bochum. “
The plan: to be fully fit on Thursday
Bellarabi is confident that this will be achieved. The roadmap for that is in place. “We increased the load well today, tomorrow a bit more and on Wednesday I will already take part in parts of the team training,” explains the attacker, who injured his hamstring three weeks ago in the 2:2 in the derby in Cologne.
If everything goes smoothly, the 31-year-old could make a full start on Thursday. “That’s my goal “, said Bellarabi, who is on target. “With a torn muscle fibre you have to expect two to three weeks off. It’s in that time frame now, it fits. It looks quite good.” One thing is clear: there must be no setbacks if the comeback against Bochum is to work. It was clear from the start that it would be relatively tight for all five candidates. “Probably none of them will be in team training before Wednesday,” explained Seoane, “and we’ll see on Wednesday whether any of them will be able to play from the beginning on Saturday.
Alario has not yet trained
This also applies to penalty striker Alario, who was the only one of the quintet not training on the pitch but working in the catacombs. The advantage of the Argentinean: he does not have a structural injury, but “only” muscular complaints in the calf, which originate from his knee, which is always causing problems. The calf problem has been solved. The knee, which was given ten days of rest, must now be further stabilised by building up strength. Seoane: “He doesn’t have an injury. When that’s done, he can train again straight away. “