Friedl speaks on return against Freiburg and surprise Austrian call-up
The 26-year-old also addressed his surprise nomination for Ralf Rangnick's Austrian national team after an absence of nearly two years.
A difficult few weeks for SV Werder Bremen squad captain Marco Friedl has seen the 26-year-old have to walk back critical statements of his team and serve a red card suspension during what was one of the most exciting top flight matches in his club's history. After Austrian national team trainer Ralf Rangnick surprisingly nominated him for the coming international break, Friedl found himself having to walk back still more statements he made some weeks back.
Rangnick has brought Friedl back into the fold after, the German trainer confirmed to Germany's Kicker Magazine, the five-times-capped international apologized and revised his statement. Rangnick insisted he harbored no resentment towards the SV skipper and declared himself pleased to welcome Friedl back after a long absence.
“To be honest, it did surprise me and I didn't expect it,” Friedl noted in statements published on Werder's website Thursday evening, “I've always emphasized that my goal is to be there all the time and play games. But now my full concentration is on Freiburg. After that I'll enjoy my time with the national team and try to draw attention to myself.”
Friedl returns to face Julian Schuster's Breisgauer on Saturday afternoon having served a one-match-suspension he incurred in round four's win over FSV Mainz 05. The captain commented on both the perils of facing a Freiburg side eager to bounce back following a surprise home loss to St. Pauli and his frustration on missing out on his team's historic comeback victory over Hoffenheim last Sunday.
“For the neutral observer, it was certainly a cool game," Friedl said, "but for me it couldn't have started worse. I'm very emotional and get to screaming at times. Freiburg will be coming to Bremen with fire in their bellies. We have to play like we did in the last 78 minutes in Sinsheim."