Mats Hummels recently spoke to kicker about the nagging muscular injury that has accompanied him through his last matches for Bayern. The defensive rock that held Dortmund in check for so long in the Pokal semifinal made a stunning statement:
I have to honestly confess, I wasn’t really able to sprint really in the last two matches [against Borussia Dortmund and Wolfsburg]. Something would have been torn. You have to get by without sprinting then, which works, if you know how to do it.
Hummels said he was quite surprised to be considered at all for the starting lineup aganist Wolfsburg. “Physically, not much is going well. I reached a limit in the game against Dortmund.”
Yet start he did, playing over an hour before making way for Juan Bernat as Bayern clinched the title in a lopsided 6:0 victory. As for the rest of the season, Hummels is looking forward, if not to rest, then at least to relaxation:
Now regeneration will be a major priority. We’ll see what the remaining weeks have in store for me, since there are still a few trouble spots in my body that need to be dealt with.
His goals? “Have fun and still play seriously. It’s also nice, though, to be able to play without pressure. We don’t get that so often anymore.”