Milot Raschica’s free-kick at Eintracht Frankfurt will be remembered by Werder fans for a long time, but the image of an injured Jiri Pavlenka will not be forgotten quite so easily. Werder’s number one lay dazed on the pitch for several minutes after a collision with Frankfurt’s Mijat Gaćinović. He was, however, lucky in this accident. He didn’t suffer any broken bones, any wounds and has made a quick return to training.
“I can only remember seeing a long ball and then lying on the turf,” the Czech goalkeeper recalls to WERDER.de. “First of all I wanted to play again but I wasn’t allowed to and that was probably the right decision,” Pavlenka says with a slight smile. He is able to return, not only because the Green-Whites won but also because the keeper was able to cope with the after effects of the collision. Pavlenka was taken to hospital in ambulance and seen by a doctor. He couldn’t celebrate when Raschica scored the winner as “the stretcher I was on was shorter than me. There wasn’t exactly space for me to cheer.”
Pavlenka was able to watch a summary of the away victory at around 23:00 that evening and he also had to answer some phone messages at the same time. Teammates, fans and Frankfurt’s Mijat Gaćinović wanted to wish Pavlenka a quick recovery
The recovery has gone very well for Pavlenka. “I had a headache for three days and felt tired,” admitted Pavlenka. He had been ruled out of the international fixtures but was able to return to individual training with Christian Vander and finally with the rest of the squad on Thursday afternoon. “If the three days go well and the coach has faith in me, then I will play,” says Pavlenka. We have our fingers crossed!
