It was cold, it was wet. As uncomfortable as it can be on Schenckendorffplatz in November. But when the professionals from the Berlin second division soccer team Hertha BSC began to line up for the upcoming training session on Tuesday morning, Fabian Reese seemed somehow, well: euphoric.
He started with a spring in his step. After half a lap around the square, he had worked his way to the front of the entourage, coming from the very outside: his back arched, his chest out. As if he wanted to make sure that no one overlooked him: Hello, I’m back.
The dreary and inhospitable November weather? “Whatever,” says Reese after the session, which lasted almost one and three quarters of an hour. “It can be like this every day, as long as I can play again.”
Hertha’s offensive player had to wait more than four months to be able to play with his colleagues again. In mid-July, in a test match at Energie Cottbus, his ankle was broken due to a bad foul. What followed: surgery, hospital, rehab, individual training – and now finally: the return to the team.
It looked pretty good for the first time in four months. It felt pretty neat too.
Fabian Reese from Hertha BSC about his training comeback
“Yes, Hammer. It’s been a long time,” says Reese after his training comeback. “When you see what kind of suffering you go through with an injury like that, then the first training session with the team is really a pleasure.” Even though he is only “partially integrated” for the time being, as they say in football terms.
Means: Reese is back, but not yet completely back in the thick of things. When tackling, he still has to exercise some caution out of consideration for his ankle.
That’s why the 26-year-old wears a red shirt during the “eight against eight” between a team in yellow and one in blue and stands on the edge as a pass receiver and giver. And in the final form of the game he is also the free man who is allowed to circle undisturbed in the midfield. The opponents keep their distance.
“With such a complex injury, it’s not like things will get better overnight,” says Reese. He is well built muscularly, but he still needs to catch up a bit in terms of fitness despite the hard rehab training. And still: “For the first time in four months, it looked pretty good. It felt pretty neat too.”
In addition to Reese, central defender Linus Gechter is now back in team training after his collarbone operation. Just like Ibrahim Maza, who was slightly injured after the game in Darmstadt and therefore had to cancel his trip to the Algerian national team.
Leistner and Demme train individually
Toni Leistner and Diego Demme are also on the pitch on Tuesday, but they only arrive when their colleagues are almost finished and are only training individually. Playing on Saturday, in the home game against the second division promoted SSV Ulm, is therefore not an option.
This of course also applies to Fabian Reese after the long break. The attacker, who was one of the most noticeable players in the second division last season with nine goals and eighteen assists for Hertha, should be developed carefully and without deadline pressure.
There is no timetable
Many Berlin fans would like to see him back on the pitch as quickly as possible. There was recently speculation about a comeback in the round of 16 of the DFB Cup, in which Hertha has to play against 1. FC Köln on December 4th.
But there is no such schedule. “I look from day to day and am just happy to be closer to the team again,” says Reese. Two days ago, he reports, he didn’t know “whether I would be able to train today. But yesterday it went well.”
This is how it will continue to be in the future: How does the ankle react to the load? What is planned in training? Does his participation even make sense?
Reese also tried to maintain contact with his colleagues during his injury break. He always sat in the stands at home games, and even occasionally attended away games. “It was the best and worst 90 minutes of the week when we played,” he says. “The most beautiful ones because you somehow felt this tingling sensation. And the worst because you couldn’t participate, you were tied to the couch or the stands.”
Hertha is currently in eleventh place in the second division. So mediocre. But at second glance, before the duel with the penultimate Ulm, there are only four points in second place. Promotion is far from lost, and with a healthy Fabian Reese in the form of last year, the chances would probably increase significantly.
“We have a good structure, we have an intact team,” he says. “Finding my place, helping the team when they need me, and being successful together: That’s above all else.”