One should never stick one’s head in the sand. There is always something positive to take from failure, says Wirtz, who reports a big comeback

Florian Wirtz has had a very difficult ordeal in his life, having to stand for several months due to injury. However, he played all 4 preliminary games in the winter training and also played a few minutes in a live game.

Wirtz had an amazing last season, at least most of it, scoring 10 goals and adding 14 assists in 31 games. He tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the spring and his 2022 season is over.

This was finally confirmed when the great German talent returned to the pitch on 22 January, playing 16 minutes against Monchengladbach. However, he came on to the pitch at 3:0 and eventually put a smile on the lips of all Bayer fans when Lars Stindl reduced the score to 3:2 in the 82nd and 93rd minutes.

“What I take away from that time is that you should never put your head in the sand and that you can always take something positive from failure. During the time I couldn’t be on the pitch, I had the opportunity to work on things you don’t normally have time for. For me it meant that I could get my physical condition and my muscles to a higher level,” Wirtz told the club’s website.

But all that seems to be behind him now and it’s time to look forward again. After all, a lot has happened at the club. What is Wirtz most looking forward to and what are his goals for this year?

“For me, the comeback is something really special. I’m looking forward to the moment I’ve been working towards for so long. It’s the first competitive match and it’s about winning. You want to build your confidence and fine-tune certain things in the friendlies.

Now it’s about what I love most about football – competition, where you have to prove yourself as a team and also individually. I would like to show people that I can play good football and I want to continue with the team where we left off before the winter break.”

That being said, Leverkusen went into this season with big ambitions, but after 16 league rounds they are only in 9th place, 9 points behind 2nd place Frankfurt.

However, more important than the current standings is the form of coach Xabi Alonso’s charges, who have won 4 league games in a row.

The club’s goal is clearly to grab a place for themselves in next year’s Champions League. If they continue in this way, they can be counted on to succeed, which would be great for the pair of Czech strikers who have been at BayArena.

Source: Bayer Leverkusen