I don’t feel in the best shape of my life. Twenty-five goals this season is realistic, believes Patrik Schick

September. Only during the autumn part of the Bundesliga did he manage to equal the Czech goal scoring record for the top five European leagues for the whole season. And Patrik Schick was on sick leave for a whole month. Even so, or perhaps because of it, he doesn’t feel in the best shape of his life. “The physical condition of my body is not yet what I expect,” he told reporters over the Christmas break.

The year 2021 was his. In the summer, he walked with the Czech national team to the quarter-finals of the European Championships and, along with Cristiano Ronaldo, scored the most goals during the entire tournament. Patrik Schick carried his scoring phase into the autumn part of the league season.

He has 16 goals in the Bundesliga, only the Polish machine Robert Lewandowski is better (3 goals). And the Czech striker hasn’t played all the games for Leverkusen due to injury. It is no wonder that satisfaction prevails with him during the Christmas break, which is exactly halfway through the year in Germany.

“I honestly hadn’t counted on so many goals after halfway through the season,” Schick admitted to ČTK when the Czech Republic’s Golden Ball for the autumn was announced, which, by the way, he quite understandably dominated. However, he was prepared for the fact that he would be a regular after the well-managed Euro and is currently thinking only of making sure that his goal machine works as well as it has done so far after the New Year.

After all, there is a great potential that he could reach the magical mark of three dozen accurate shots per season in the next 17 games in the top German league. Already now, according to his own words, he could have quite possibly scored 20 goals, if it wasn’t for the roughly one-month forced break due to health problems.

However, it seems to have made Patrik Schick even stronger. Since his return at the end of November, he has played in five games, adding an incredible 8 goals to his stats. A breath of life? Don’t go to the 25-year-old Prague native with that.

“Certainly not after the injury. Before it I felt very well, everything was according to my expectations, but now the physical condition of my body is not quite what it should be and what I expect. I expect that it will take me some time. Even though I’m ready for the fight, my ankle is still not 100%,” he admitted.

Still, the Sparta alumnus managed to equal the Czech seasonal scoring record for the top 5 European leagues in just 14 games, which adds to his joy. He is more than aware of how difficult it will be to build on the autumn figure, but he believes it is realistic to reach the 25-goal mark, which was last reached by David Lafata in the Jablonec jersey exactly ten years ago.

And what about taking the Bundesliga goal scoring crown? Schick doesn’t have high hopes for that either. With Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski lining up, he must feel heavenly, but he is even reluctant to call the Polish sniper a competitor. He is counting on Bayern Munich’s continued overwhelming campaign, as well as the fact that his goal-scoring drive will, in short, continually assert itself.

So he does not set a specific shooting target for the spring half of the season. The main thing for him is to avoid injuries. “When I’m healthy and don’t have any problems, I know I’m capable of playing my best. We have team goals, but I never set personal goals like how many goals I want to score or that I want to be the top scorer,” he said.

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