When Jonathan Burkardt hugged his girlfriend and family in the guest curve, a few tears were shed. The 23-year-old striker made a moving comeback in FSV Mainz 05’s 1-1 draw with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim – after a year out due to injury.
“It was incredible. To be here again with the team. It was such a long journey. And I’m just happy that I was able to be there again,” said Burkardt in the “DAZN” interview with moist eyes.
Sports director Schmidt is happy
The FSV fans celebrated their “Jonny Burkardt” in the Sinsheim stadium with loud chants. The former captain of the German U21 team had two operations on his left knee due to bone marrow edema and was sorely missed by Mainz for a long time. Burkardt played his last game in the Bundesliga to date on November 13, 2022 in the derby against Eintracht Frankfurt.
“My feeling was that he would get a cross pass today and decide it. That would of course have been a complete affair,” said Mainz interim coach Jan Siewert, who replaced Burkhard after a good 70 minutes, in the press conference. Sports director Martin Schmidt was of course very happy about the return of the top talent: “You could see that the boy can kick and gamble really well.”
Burkardt himself admitted that he had doubts at times as to whether he would make it back to the professional game: “When you’ve been away for so long, you think about where it’s going to lead.”