What a comeback by Leon Goretzka (27)!
After a four-month injury break (patellar tendon problems), the midfield star returned to the Bayern team in a 4-1 win in Freiburg and promptly scored the all-important 1-0!
Buddy Joshua Kimmich (27) – Bayern’s new standard king – provided the template for his goal. For the twelfth time this season, Kimmich scored a set piece.
58 minutes: Kimmich took a free kick into the penalty area, Goretzka spiraled up and headed the ball into the goal from around seven yards.
Trainer Julian Nagelsmann (34): “I’m extremely happy for Leon! He is exceptionally good with his head, has a great body. In terms of football, he hasn’t had an easy time recently after four months out. He did that well throughout the game and topped it off with a set piece goal.”
Goretzka played his last game on December 4, 2021 in Bayern’s 3-2 draw in Dortmund. After that, persistent problems with the patellar tendon in his left knee put him out of action.
Goretzka (BILD rating 2) made a strong comeback in Freiburg. Nagelsmann: “Leon is important for the whole club. He is one of the club’s figures along with Joshua Kimmich, Thomas Müller, Manuel Neuer and Robert Lewandowski. He has good physical presence, brings in vigor and greed, is a good box-to-box player. He is very valuable. You could see that in the last two weeks of training that he’s doing us a lot of good. A player who trains with maximum greed and also pushes the others. Josh and especially I are very happy to have him back.”
It is still unclear whether Goretzka will start again in the first leg of the quarter-finals in the Champions League against Villarreal (9 p.m.) on Wednesday. Nagelsmann doesn’t want to take any risks, avoid overloading: “We’ll have to take a look at Leon, but the basic idea is that we can’t chase him in every three days after a four-month break…”
A possible replacement would be Jamal Musiala (19).
