Broken nose if need be!? This Bundesliga star wants the World Cup
Broken nose if need be!? This Bundesliga star wants the World Cup "We definitely tried everything — with ice, with taping it shut, with stuffing 18 things up there," Mathias Ginter joked after Freiburg’s 1-0 win over Mainz last Bundesliga weekend. During the match, he had to be treated twice for a bleeding nose.
Ginter was determined to avoid being substituted at all costs, as he later revealed. Did he have a premonition — or is he on a personal mission? Just 20 minutes after his treatment, the defender set up Lucas Höler for the 1-0.
For Ginter, that is currently just part of everyday business. The defensive leader has already provided six assists for Freiburg this season, and has even scored four times himself. Most recently, Ginter headed home Freiburg’s third goal in the 3-0 first-leg win over Celta Vigo in the Europa League quarter-finals.
Right now, he always seems to be in the right place. If not as a goalscorer or a stabilising presence in defence, then sometimes as a vocal leader for his team. After Freiburg’s 3-2 defeat to Bayern Munich, Ginter went to the referees’ dressing room after the match and gave it a proper kick following several controversial decisions by Daniel Siebert.
An action full of symbolism. After several average Bundesliga seasons, the former Dortmund man is back in the spotlight. Maybe soon on the DFB stage again as well?