Striker Patrik Schick will most likely make his comeback to Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen after a long period of suffering.
“That’s totally realistic,” said coach Xabi Alonso on Friday (October 20th, 2023) when asked whether the Czech would be in the squad for the league game against VfL Wolfsburg (Saturday, 3:30 p.m.): “He has in the last two I trained almost completely for weeks.” But the 27-year-old is not yet an issue for the starting eleven.
Schick, who scored 24 goals in 27 Bundesliga games in the 2021/22 season, had adductor problems last season. He hasn’t played a game since March and had surgery in the summer.
No excuses
“It was a long time. That’s why you have to go step by step,” said Alonso: “We’ll see whether he plays 15 minutes or maybe 20. First of all, it’s important that he’s back on the pitch. We need his Goals, his quality and his personality.”
Alonso doesn’t believe that his team will have problems because of the many long international trips to Wolfsburg. “After the last international break we played in Munich and we only had one day together before that,” said the coach.
From the series champions FC Bayern Leverkusen a 2-2, all other nine competitive games this season were won. “There are no excuses for tomorrow,” he made clear on Friday.
