Schick did not travel to Budapest with Leverkusen. His start in the national team jersey is almost out of the question

Patrik Schick returned from injury in February, but is only picking up minutes for Bayer Leverkusen as he is still not fully fit. Now he hasn’t travelled to Budapest with the team and a start in the national team jersey is basically out of the question.

Schick played his last game of 2022 on November 1, when he was present for the draw against Club Brugge. After that, injuries kept him out of games and his return didn’t come until mid-February 2023.

Schick came on for the final three minutes in the opening game against Monaco, and even managed to score against Mainz in his half hour on the pitch.

This was followed by 51 minutes at Monaco, then 25 minutes at Freiburg, 22 minutes with Hertha and only 2 minutes with Ferencváros. Injury did not allow him to play again at Bremen.

The Czech international’s health is not good, which is why Bayer decided not to take him to Hungary for the Europa League rematch. Coach Xabi Alonso confirmed this at a press conference.

The groin problem will almost certainly prevent him from attending the national team meeting, to which he was called up by coach Jaroslav Šilhavy, who was nevertheless aware of his chances.

It would be a real surprise if he would come to Monday’s meeting, after all Bayer doesn’t have a good experience with something like this in the past.

So only Adam Hložek, who is a hot candidate for the starting line-up, will come to the meeting. His competition will be the Spartan duo Jan Kuchta – Tomáš Čvančara and also Mojmír Chytil.

The Czech national football team will play its opening qualifying match against Poland on Wednesday 24 March in Eden, followed by a match in Moldova three days later.

Source: Bayer Leverkusen, Czech national football team