Until now, one of the foundations of Freiburg’s flight of fancy has been an almost injury-free and healthy squad. Now, however, the only unbeaten Bundesliga team has major personnel worries. Christian Streich also spoke about the condition of Jonathan Schmid, who has been slowed down by COVID-19.
“We’ve been quiet for a long time, we’ve invested a lot. But there are phases when someone is out for a few weeks,” said Christian Streich on Thursday. He will certainly have to do without five players in the second home game in the new Europa Park Stadium on Saturday against Fürth: Nils Petersen, Roland Sallai, Jonathan Schmid, Yannik Keitel and Kimberly Ezekwem.
Petersen, who was substituted in Wolfsburg but travelled to Freiburg before the cup match in Osnabrück (2:3 i.E.), and Sallai, who was already missing from the squad in Wolfsburg, are struggling with more persistent problems in their knees. “With Nils, it’s not the knee he had the arthroscopy on in the summer. But as a young guy at 18, he had a procedure in that knee before,” Streich told us, who hopes the medical department can get the injury under control with conservative therapy.
Petersen and Sallai are not expected to play in the games against Fürth and in Munich before the next international, when a new assessment will be made, he said. Sallai will therefore most likely also have to miss Hungary’s national team, Streich said.
Schmid still needs a while
Talent Ezekwem, who has yet to make a professional appearance, is still in rehabilitation training after a muscle injury. While U-21 international Yannik Keitel, who contracted COVID-19 last week despite being fully vaccinated, is expected to return soon, Jonathan Schmid will need a while longer.
The French top performer initially had to go into quarantine after the second matchday due to a case of corona in his home environment. Such an order was already in effect at the end of August only for persons without vaccination protection or proof of recovery.
This is presumably why the right-back was set back more severely than other players by his COVID-19 infection that followed at the beginning of September. The 31-year-old has been absent since then and will continue to be absent for the foreseeable future.
Talking about a date for a full return to the pitch would be “pure speculation”, Streich stressed again on Thursday, but he also passed on welcome news about Schmid: “He is slowly gaining weight again, his lung values and the values of the other organs are good. These are positive signs. We’ll let him work completely in peace with the physiotherapists and my fellow coaches now and see when he comes back. “
Big worries in central midfield
In addition to this quintet, another five players are currently stricken. Nicolas Höfler did not play in Osnabrück due to muscular problems, Philipp Lienhart was substituted at Bremer Brücke after a bruised skull and Lukas Kübler, Nico Schlotterbeck and Maximilian Eggestein only survived the intense cup battle with injuries. Streich said there was still hope that all of them would be able to play on Saturday, but further absences were just as likely.
Especially in the central midfield the worries are the biggest. If, in addition to Keitel, Höfler and Eggestein also have to take a break, only Janik Haberer would be available as a regular six. Streich revealed that he was also on the verge of playing in Osnabrück due to injuries.
