Omar Mascarell: I’ll give everything for the club

The match, organised because the DFB-Pokal fixture was cancelled at short notice, was a good test, according to Mascarell. “The 45 minutes were really good for me,” explains the 27-year-old. The defensive midfielder fully joined in with squad training for the first time since his injury just a few days earlier.

In the first few weeks of pre-season, Mascarell mostly worked on his comeback individually. “I did a lot of very intensive work with Werner Leuthard,” he says. “That really helped me.”

Mascarell doesn’t know whether he will be an option for David Wagner for the opening Bundesliga fixture at Bayern Munich on Friday (18/9). “The head coach will decide when I’m ready to play again. I know that he doesn’t want to risk anything after such a long break,” says the Spaniard.

Mascarell has really felt the head coach’s faith in the last few days; Wagner has confirmed that the midfielder will remain captain. “I’m really proud of that. It’s a great feeling. I’ll give everything for the club,” says the right-footer, who is excited for the new season to get underway. “The poor Rückrunde is behind us. We’re looking forwards and it’s a new start,” he says.

The squad is ready according to Mascarell. “We’ve trained hard for six weeks and we’re fit, we don’t have any injuries.” The captain knows that the Royal Blues face their hardest challenge of the season on paper in the opener. “Bayern Munich have a really good squad that achieved the treble with their Champions League win a few weeks ago.” Nonetheless, the Spaniard thinks that the club can get a positive result from the game. It will be important to “be wide-awake from the first minute, get stuck into tackles, be compact and play as a team,” says Mascarell. He finishes with one message – “we’re ready!”