Shortly before the first international matches of the European Championship year, national soccer player Serge Gnabry is getting a taste of competition again after a long break. After his brief appearance in FC Bayern Munich's 3-0 win in the Champions League against Lazio Rome, the winger is hoping for more minutes on Saturday (3:30 p.m./Sky) in the Bundesliga home game against FSV Mainz 05. "That was an extremely long break" said coach Thomas Tuchel. "There's no point in putting pressure on him because it takes time."
Gnabry suffered a serious injury for the second time this season in a 5-1 away loss to Eintracht Frankfurt last year. A muscle injury forced the 28-year-old to take a longer break. The professional was out for several weeks in September and October due to a broken forearm. In the short phases without problems, Gnabry found it difficult to get playing time in the wing positions in competition with Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sané.
Rome minutes as a “reward” for Gnabry
“Serge was extremely important, especially at the end of last season, and at the beginning of this season he was also very strong and an important factor,” said Tuchel. "We let him play against Rome so that he could get a reward and an incentive to make the hard work worth it. I hope that we can give him more minutes and that he can be decisive for us again."
Gnabry himself also hopes so, as he also wants to promote his European Championship call-up. The exceptional talent used to be very popular with national coach Julian Nagelsmann. However, Nagelsmann has announced that he wants to rely more on workers instead of too many offensive sophisticates. This could have an impact on the squad for the first international matches of the European Championship year against France and the Netherlands at the end of the month.
Coman's return is approaching
Like Gnabry, Kingsley Coman is also striving to get back into the team, although his comeback will only take place in a few weeks. "We expect Kingsley back after the international break if everything goes well. Serge and Kingsley are key players who we are missing in the competitive situation," said Tuchel.
Gnabry has only appeared five times in the Bundesliga this season and has not yet recorded a goal or an assist. In the previous season he contributed 14 goals and seven assists to Munich's championship title.
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