Following the 3-2 win in the friendly against Dutch first-division side Go Ahead Eagles, we have the reactions of returner Stefan Lainer, Julian Weigl, and head coach Gerardo Seoane.
Stefan Lainer: It felt great to be back on the pitch, even though it was only for 30 minutes. I realise that my fitness levels have improved, which shows just how hard we worked over the past few weeks. Providing the assist for the first goal made my comeback that little bit better. Now I’ll have to wait and see how my body deals with the strain over the next couple of days and the week of training, but I feel ready and am looking forward to being back in league action again soon.
Julian Weigl: We had a few good days of training and felt that it was important to play a friendly before the league resumes. Despite being unusual, playing the four lots of 30 minutes allowed us to give every player minutes on the pitch. Although results from friendlies aren’t as vital, it feels good to have won and kept a clean sheet in the first half.
Head coach Gerardo Seoane: Our main priority was to give every player as much game time as possible. 90 minutes would have been too much after five days of training, so in that sense we’re glad to have been able to spread the game time over 120 minutes. It was especially important for those coming back from injury like Stefan Lainer, Jordan, Ko Itakura and Tony Jantschke to get some minutes, and we were particularly happy to see Stevie back in action. The friendly showed us where we are right now and where there’s still room for improvement.
