In light of the international fixtures that took place in early June following the end of the league season, several VfB players were given an extended summer break – but almost all of Pellegrino Matarazzo’s charges were back on Monday as preparations began for 2022/23. In addition to captain Wataru Endo, Hiroki Ito, Sasa Kalajdzic, Darko Churlinov, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Borna Sosa were all at the VfB training complex, although the latter will undergo an individual programme away from the rest of the squad due to adductor complaints.
Mavropanos, who played every minute for Greece in June, admitted before training on Monday that it was a challenge to have so many games at the end of last season, but also that “we had good periods of recovery between the matches and it was a very successful international break for us”.
“After the season and the international games we all needed to recuperate a bit, mentally too,” he continued. “We had a good time but now I’m happy to be back with the boys and I’m really looking forward to the first training session.”
That included the rather unpopular performance tests that had to be carried out. “The tests are important in pre-season,” Mavropanos explained. “Obviously as players we’re not big fans of them because you mainly just have to run and we want to play football. But they’re important and have to be done.”
The defender is keen for the team carry on the momentum they picked up with the euphoric end to last season: “Each and every one of us knows how we need to work in the Bundesliga and how we need to approach the competition. Last season helped us a lot to stick together even more as a team, to become stronger and to work even harder.”