Hofmann and Lainer back in team training

Preparations for the upcoming home game against VfB Stuttgart got underway on Wednesday afternoon. Jonas Hofmann and Stefan Lainer returned to team training while Nico Elvedi missed out due to illness.

The Foals will open Bundesliga matchday 13 at home on Friday against 15th-placed Stuttgart (20:30 CET), ahead of a double game week. Preparations for the game began with a 75-minute session on Wednesday afternoon. Stefan Lainer was able to return to team training for the first time since recovering from Covid-19. Jonas Hofmann also returned after being out several weeks with an ankle injury he suffered in the DFB-Pokal defeat against Darmstadt. “Today was a good day for Jonas to get back into it, because there weren’t a lot of tackles being made. He looked good and if he’s able to complete the final session tomorrow, then he will definitely be an option for the matchday squad,” said head coach Daniel Farke. “That would of course be an important thing for us.”

Ramy Bensebaini, who rolled his ankle against Union Berlin last weekend, was also able to train with the team again. “Fortunately, it’s nothing serious with Ramy. He wasn’t entirely pain-free today but he still looked good. The final training session tomorrow will determine whether he can play on Friday,” said Farke. Semir Telalovic from the Borussia U23s was invited to take part in today’s session with the first team. “His strong performances in the Regionalliga mean he has earned himself the opportunity to train with us. We did a lot of work in front of goal today, so it was a good chance to observe him. He did well,” commented Farke.

Absent from today’s session were Yann Sommer (ankle), Florian Neuhaus (partial ACL rupture), Ko Itakura (partial MCL rupture), Hannes Wolf (labrum tear in the shoulder joint) and Nico Elvedi (illness). “Unfortunately, Nico has been hit with a bad cold and couldn’t train today. We will need to wait and see with him,” said Farke.

Tomorrow’s final training session (10:45 CET) will take place behind closed doors.