Nico Schlotterbeck was injured for half a year. Now the BVB defender has impressively reported. In his first game, he shows qualities that you can not only use in Dortmund.
Nico Schlotterbeck enjoyed the ovations. The national player, who had just given his comeback for Borussia Dortmund, was called by the fans in front of the south stands. They celebrated him in speech choirs, Schlotterbeck bowed and thanked him. “I worked hard for six months and it was beautiful how the fans received me here. You can see that you have done a lot of things right since you were in this club,” he said. It was “an honor” for him.
The central defender is back again after sustaining a meniscus tear at the beginning of April. After a long rehab and just a few days in team training, Niko Kovac was approaching him on Saturday, one day before the home game against VfL Wolfsburg (1-0). “The coach asked me: ‘Are you Bock?’ I answered: Stand up,” said Schlotterbeck: “Of course, as a footballer you don’t say no.”
And a professional like the 25-year-old, who has been playing for BVB for three and a half years and has been part of the national team for just as long. Schlotterbeck’s ambition is almost proverbial – but was put on a test of patience because of the forced break, the first longer of this kind in his career. “It was a hard time and challenging for me because it was the first time,” he admitted.
Important note from Christian Streich
It was difficult for him to take a standstill, how his colleagues were very close to FC Barcelona in April in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, as they played at the club World Cup in the USA and also how they started the new season in the premier class with a 4: 4 at Juventus Turin last Tuesday. BVB had conceded two goals in added time. Five days later he finally got the green light from Kovac.
“It is important for me that a player who has been in the rehab phase for a long time comes back healthy-and above all fit. Because we cannot try to give him ten and 20 minutes in the next games,” said Kovac. The BVB coach is not a friend of introducing players slowly. This only leads to a breakdown, load the change quota and endanger the match plan. Kovac set up Schlotterbeck on Sunday because he was sure that he could “burn immediately” – and he then had it played through the entire duration.
Even with a fighter like Schlotterbeck, this went to the business. At first it was not easy for him to get used to the intensity again. “I decided to come into play with light balls – Christian Streich recommended that to me,” revealed the former Freiburg. But after a relatively short time he dared to play the long passes typical of him, to ensure side shifts – and to enrich the Dortmund build -up game again with a variant that had been neglected in the past few months. Because without Schlotterbeck, the Kovac team had primarily played out with short passes from behind. That made it easy for the opponents to adjust to it.
“If an opponent is a bit higher, you can hurt him behind the chain with targeted long balls,” said Kovac. With Schlotterbeck’s passes over 40, 50 meters, rooms can be bridged and moments of surprise. For a long time this style was considered unsexy. But in times when the construction actors in the central midfield in particular are attacked earlier, this variant is often the only way to get deep into your own game. Kovac has a mix of short -pass game and opening passes – can also use the speed of the wing strikers Karim Adeyemi and Maximilian Beier. Schlotterbeck has a key role.
In the ability to read the game and breaking out of the tactical scheme depending on the situation, his greatest strength is – which should also be used in perspective, Julian Nagelsmann again. Of all central defender candidates under which the national coach can probably choose with regard to the World Cup next year-Antonio Rüdiger, Jonathan Tah, Waldemar Anton, Robin Koch, Matthias Ginter and Schlotterbeck-the latter is the best player opener. In addition, the German central defense in the absence of Schlotterbeck did not know how to convince, especially in the 0: 2 in Slovakia.
It is still nine months up to the World Cup. Schlotterbeck primarily wants to use it to further stabilize BVB, the third of Bundesliga games. He also wants to contribute to his personality, his claim to leadership. He returns to a team for which things are currently running anyway. Because since Kovac switched from a four-person to a defense chain in defense last March, BVB has no longer lost a Bundesliga game.
“We stay tuned,” says Schlotterbeck to the chasing role
Schlotterbeck still does not believe in titles. But only limiting yourself to the defensive is not verbally his thing either. “At Borussia Dortmund you are to win something. I came here,” he said. However, it was initially important to solidify the trend. “It is important to me to stay in the first half of Bayern. We have often ran behind in the first half of the season.
It looks quite promising for the beginning. “Bayern presented on Saturday, we added on Saturday and stay tuned,” he said with satisfaction. Then Nico Schlotterbeck went home and celebrated his successful comeback in the family.
