Final preparations for the start of the 2020/21 Bundesliga campaign began in earnest on Tuesday for the VfB squad. The mild temperatures out on the training pitch were not the only reason for smiles among head coach Pellegrino Matarazzo’s troops, as a number of players were able to participate after recent absences.
Four members return in time for Bundesliga start
Pascal Stenzel was among the quartet back in action ahead of SC Freiburg’s visit on Saturday (kick-off 15:30 CEST), having missed the DFB Cup trip to Rostock on Sunday to attend the birth of his child. He, like fellow defender Marc Oliver Kempf, will go up against his former side this weekend.
Left-back Borna Sosa also worked up a sweat with his teammates. The 22-year-old was sidelined for VfB’s first competitive assignment of the season in front of a 7,500-strong crowd at Rostock’s Ostseestadion, having returned from the Croatia U21 side with a knee complaint.
The other two players back in training were 22-year-old Arsenal loanee Konstantinos Mavropanos and 20-year-old Argentinian Mateo Klimowicz, who had been respectively suffering from groin and muscular issues.