Eight years no longer holidays and sometimes more than 60 games a year. Christian Streich felt “mental exhaustion” with Matthias Ginter before his move to Freiburg.
Christian Streich only briefly forgot him when he greeted him in the dressing room at the start of training, he says. It obviously didn’t feel to him like the official Freiburg signing was really “new”. On the contrary, the mutual trust between coach, player, teammates and club seems to be there right away. During the first training session, you can feel Ginter’s desire and joy to be able to play for his youth club again.
Back in Breisgau – Matthias Ginter feels at home
No wonder, because his home is in the Black Forest. Born in Freiburg, Matthias Ginter played for the sports club from 2005 to 2014. First in the youth teams before, one day after signing his professional contract, he made his Bundesliga debut together with his youth coach and mentor Christian Streich. Now there was an immediate “feeling of home” again, says the 28-year-old: “I not only know the coaching team here, but also a few players, all the physios and also very, very many of the staff who were already there at the time.” He is “extremely happy” that it has now worked out and he feels “extremely good” to be here.
Matthias Ginter seems to have longed for this moment back in Freiburg. It is said that he really wanted the move. Last season wasn’t just disappointing for his team at the time, Borussia Mönchengladbach. He also personally described his relationship with the then coach Adi Hütter in “kicker” as “difficult”. There were also whistling fans in his last game for Gladbach. Unfortunately, last season he also “got to know the unpleasant sides of professional business,” said Ginter in “kicker”. It was also disappointing for him that Hansi Flick did not nominate him for the Nations League games in June. However, his old and new coach Christian Streich felt that this was “helpful and good” for his protégé.
From Streich’s point of view: “Mental exhaustion”
Streich only realized in conversations with Matthias Ginter that Ginter had simply never had more than eight or nine days off for eight years, says Streich. His stint with sometimes more than 60 games a year is “really crazy”. From his point of view, he had noticed “mental exhaustion” at Ginter in the past nine months: “If you play so many games, you don’t even know who you’re going to play against next. You can’t really be happy at all”.
Ginter: You don’t notice exhaustion in the tunnel
When asked whether Streich was right about that, Matthias Ginter takes a deep breath and then says: “When you’re in this tunnel, when you’re in this rut, you don’t always want to admit one thing or the other. And that’s how it was me too.” Of course, the ambitious Freiburg native was disappointed that he wasn’t called up for the national team. But in retrospect, it “maybe wasn’t so bad to have had the first longer vacation of my career.”
Now he is full of freshness and full of energy on the pitch. Christian Streich also noticed that in the first training session: “It was clear that he was rested now.” Nevertheless, he shouldn’t put too much pressure on himself, “he should easily find his way back to his old strength”. Ginter wants “maximum success” with the sports club in the coming season – a big challenge for which he sees his team well prepared. He himself will probably initially play as a central defender in the friendlies, although he can occupy other positions.
Another goal: World Cup and yet again less vacation
With good performances in the club, it might work out with the national team and a participation in the World Cup. He’s at least trying to do everything in his power to “maybe not have as much vacation time in the next few years,” he says with a smile and walks from the training ground towards the changing room. Already on the first day in Freiburg, Matthias Ginter really settled in at the sports club.
