Badstuber out to make up for lost time

Holger Badstuber is eager to make an impact during the remainder of the season following his recent return from injury.

After returning to the Bayern Munich set-up recently following long-term injuries, Holger Badstuber is eager to make the most of the remainder of this season.

The defender made his first competitive appearance since September in Bayern’s 8-0 win over Hamburg earlier this month, following a spell on the sidelines with thigh injuries.

Prior to that, Badstuber endured a lengthy lay-off due to cruciate knee ligament trouble, which saw him miss the second half of the 2012-13 season and the whole of the following campaign. 

Having worked his way back into Bayern’s side, the Germany international is eager to remain in Pep Guardiola’s plans and force his way back into the national team.

“When you cannot play for a longer period of time you have to put football aside. You have to focus on yourself and have to go your way and focus on your rehabilitation,” he told Perform.

“So, you have to put football aside. It is for me important to make progress and to release my full potential. I was once in the national team that is why I want to go back there. 

“I look forward to the next months, the important duels at high levels. I’m looking forward to it because I want to experience it and I will try to help, I want to have fun and I am really looking forward to it. I will do everything I can to give my input.”

Badstuber was an unused substitute as Bayern were thumped 4-1 by Wolfsburg in their first game back after the mid-season break.

However, Guardiola’s side have since recovered to maintain an eight-point lead over Dieter Hecking’s men, with Badstuber playing down the impact of the defeat to their title rivals.

“We have to get in our rhythm. I would not say that the loss against Wolfsburg was a warning shot because each player knows how he played and how the team performed,” he added.

“But we want to get on a certain level. We are concentrating on us. We want to get to a point where we are satisfied with us and for this goal we are working.

“What happened in Wolfsburg just happened. No big deal. We have to learn from the loss. We can perform better and we want to show it.

“We know where we want to go, we know our goals. We are reflecting very well. We can improve and we know how to accomplish that. That is important and that is what we are going to do.”