The excitement ahead of the winter break has to be huge for Ludwig Augustinsson. The best present for the currently injured left back would surely be a comeback to the Bundesliga. “The plan is to play a few games before the winter break,” said Augustinsson on Tuesday. He’s been itching to come back to the team ever since his injury two and a half months ago.
Augustinsson has been spending around three to four hours in the weights room, and the sessions are getting shorter but more intensive. It’s “difficult” for the full back not to do “too much” as excitement builds ahead of his comeback, but it’s the job of both the physio from the club and his national side to ensure that he gets the perfect balance between training and rest. And at the moment he is “ahead of schedule, which is great. I maintain that my plan of coming back and playing before Christmas is a realistic one,” said Augustinsson.
The mixed zone interview also gave Augustinsson and some journalists the chance to look back on his EURO qualifier against Spain, during which Sweden lost 3-0 and the left back played the full 90. Unfortunately his knee problems persisted over the summer and he has since been out of action.
“An operation is always the last resort for both a player and a team.” And the medical team did try everything. “Ludde” kept on trying to play but the swelling on his knee would not go away and he was not able to give any more than 80% out on the field. The doctor diagnosed him with various knee problems and so he returned to Stockholm for his rehabilitation – help from his family was always close by. “Of course I tried everything I could in Bremen but I think it was good for me in the end to get away from the lads because they just wanted to see me back out on the pitch whereas I needed to focus properly on my rehab and to have the help of my family was much better for me.”
Now Augustinsson is back. On Tuesday afternoon he took part in individual training and a return to team training moves ever closer. “I can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Augustinsson. Above all he will come out of the injury break much stronger on the mental side of things, because the balance between training and recuperation has been incredibly successful for him.
