Christoph Baumgartner opens up on injury recovery and "mental pain" of missing World Cup

Christoph Baumgartner looked set to be a key player for Austria at their first World Cup in 28 years earlier this summer, when his dream was suddenly taken away from him.

While warming up for Austria's only pre-World Cup friendly against Tunisia, the RB Leipzig star suffered a thigh injury that required surgery and a lengthy spell on the sidelines, ruling him out of the tournament.

In an interview with RB Leipzig club media, Baumgartner reflected on how difficult it was to deal with the injury mentally in the initial aftermath.

“The physical pain is irrelevant. That only lasts for a short while. It hurts when you get injured and then maybe a little after surgery. But the mental pain was huge, I won't lie,” Baumgartner said, adding:

"Ever since I can remember, my goal was to play at a World Cup. We had managed to qualify for the first time in 28 years, which for Austria, is anything but guaranteed. It was extremely tough at first."

After the initial disappointment, Baumgartner was able to start looking ahead and increasingly shut out the negative thoughts, not least thanks to the support he received from those around him.

“I am glad that I had such a good support network and that everything went very quickly. I underwent surgery two days after my injury and a week later, I flew to the World Cup to join up with the team. To still be able to be there with them really helped lift my spirits,” he said.

"For me, it was important to surround myself with people who would give me confidence and support. I was extremely down the first few days after my injury. I then said to my parents, my family and my wife that I no longer wanted to hear anyone go on about how sad and unfortunate the situation was. 

“That was something that I had already moved past. It was important that I put it behind me and say 'Okay, now I've got new goals to look forward to,'" the attacking midfielder explained.

Photo: RB Leipzig

Baumgartner has since focused on setting new goals for himself, with playing in the Champions League with RB Leipzig something he's looking ahead to in the short term. 

Looking further into the future, the 27-year-old still believes he has a good chance of representing Austria at a World Cup.

“Fortunately, I'm not in my mid-thirties yet. I will hopefully be able to play in at least one World Cup still, maybe even two. I will do everything possible in order to qualify against with Austria and to do my part to ensure that we're even more successful than the last time,” Baumgartner underlined.

Exactly when Baumgartner will be able to return from his injury remains uncertain at this stage, but a comeback sometime in the autumn currently appears realistic.