Jantschke: “I can get stuck into nearly everything I used to”

In an interview, Tony Jantschke spoke about the facial injury he sustained in training, as well as head injuries in all of football. The longest-serving current Borussia player also gave a cautious estimate on when he would be able to return to training.

Question: Tony, just a quick question to start: How are you?

Jantschke: It’s going about as well as it can. I don’t have any more pain in my face, the only thing is that my eye’s a bit red from the operation. The plates the doctors put in aren’t causing any problems. Things are looking up!

Question: You’ve just spoken about the plates. What exactly did the doctors have to do?

Jantschke: There were several breaks in my face, so they had to put in some plates into the right side of my face, but it’s not as bad as it sounds. I need to pay a massive compliment to all the doctors and nurses at the Bethesda Hospital; they’ve done a super job. The swelling has gone down really quickly and you don’t really notice anything looking at me. The cuts they had to make have been healing well too – I don’t notice the three on my face and the ones in my mouth much at all. Luckily, I can eat everything again, but the first few weeks when I could only have soup and yoghurt were difficult. In a footballing sense, I can get stuck into nearly everything I used to apart from tackles and headers, and in all probability I’ll be able to fully get back to work six weeks after the operation.

Question: Will you wear a face mask when you get back on the pitch, then?

Jantschke: No. We’ve thought about whether I should do that or not. The problem is that the mask can’t be fixed anywhere on my face if everything on one side of it is broken, as it presses on it. Everything should be healed after six weeks though, and the plates will provide some protection there. Those who know the way I play and who I am will know that I’m not worried about anything happening again, so six weeks after surgery should be okay.

Question: You’ve spoken about your style of play. You could say you’re someone who gets stuck in “where it hurts”.

Jantschke: Unfortunately, that’s true (laughs)! I do wish sometimes that I would be a bit cleverer. The problem is that I’m not the biggest defender, so I’m often at perfect elbow height for other players, but that’s just part of the fun.

Question: You collided with Jonas Kersken in training. Is it just one of those things that you can’t prevent?

Jantschke: I didn’t see Jonas, as I was only looking at my goal. A long ball came over and we just collided. It was unlucky, especially as it happened in training. I don’t think Jonas will let something like that happen again – next time he’ll probably pull back a bit sooner, but goalkeepers are a bit crazy and rightly try to protect themselves. We’ve joked that it wouldn’t have happened it Tobi Sippel was in goal, as he’s more experienced and would probably have thought: “Just let Tony jump in there and I’ll get out of the way”. Nevertheless, it was so unlucky. The way I play is such that I just didn’t see him coming, so we hit and then everything broke.

Question: There are some ongoing discussions about head injuries in the world of football. Some players wear helmets, and some are challenging for more to do the same. Do you discuss things like that in the dressing room?

Jantschke: Players like myself and Chris Kramer, who have suffered similar injuries in their careers, do discuss it now and again, of course, but the topic of helmets is a difficult one. It wouldn’t be easy for players who’ve played without one for years to change their routine from one day to the next. Of course, there are some cases where it can protect against injuries. That said, the number of concussions in football is quite evenly balanced, even if not everything is known about them. That’s an area where people still need to do a huge amount of research. I’m always open to anything that protects our wellbeing, but we need to remember that it is a contact sport, and you can’t completely avoid everything.

Question: You’re usually back on the pitch quite quickly after setbacks. Does your experience have anything to do with your quick recoveries?

Jantschke: Some players get a small knock on their knee and it swells up like a balloon, but nothing like that has ever happened to me. This latest injury was the same – when I got injured, the doctors said that I should wait a week before they operated on me, so the swelling could go down. In my case, they were able to do the surgery on the same day I got injured. After the operation, it took just two days for me to look pretty much normal. It was also just a bit of luck that my body didn’t react badly to anything that happened. I always listen to the doctors, as I haven’t got a clue myself. They said everything should be back to normal after six weeks, so that’s what I’ll be sticking to.