Moments of uncertainty & butterflies on a return

He had to be patient for a long six months, half a year in which he longingly yearned for the chance to once again stand guard in the FSV goal for 90 minutes. It was a time marked by glimmers of hope, bitter setbacks, a great deal of patience and a lot of hard work. As Mainz came up against Union Berlin on Sunday night, Robin Zentner was finally able to make his return to action, having last stood in net in Craiova at the end of November. The shot-stopper and his teammates were forced to accept a frustrating defeat against the club from the capital, although Zentner did express how good it felt to feel those butterflies again, the kind you can only truly get from running out in front of a passionate crowd of over 30,000 supporters. At long last, the seemingly never-ending wait was at an end. According to Mainz’s number 1, it was “the uncertainty, the fact we didn’t know how much longer it would be” that was the most difficult part of the spell on the sidelines. This was not least due to the fact that the initial prognosis had determined the player would only miss a handful of games.

A long period of uncertainty

Of course, the fact that Mainz fell to defeat in their final home game of the season did dampen the delight of having returned to action by a tad, although Zentner’s appearance on matchday 33 was an important sign for him, for the team and also for the fans. The 31-year-old got through the game without any pain, and although he didn’t produce a perfect performance upon his comeback, he managed to make it fully back out onto the pitch in a season that, for long stretches, had been a markedly unfortunate one for the goalkeeper. He did manage to play in the UEFA Conference League qualifying play-offs against Rosenborg BK and enjoy the first few wins in the competition, but Mainz struggled in the league in the Winter period, even before the starting shot-stopper suffered his injury. As things improved on the pitch from January onwards and points in the fight against relegation were picked up week after week, the goalkeeper’s return to training seemed to become more uncertain by the day. Although the original muscle injury had healed, every attempt to increase the workload led to renewed pain around the hip area, the cause of which initially remained unclear. Looking back, Zentner no longer wants to go into details, but the level of frustration during that period speaks for itself.

“At some point, it also becomes a mental issue on top of the physical problems. There was simply nobody who could give any definitive answers,” explained Robin Zentner. He says he eventually learned not to put himself under any pressure regarding a comeback date. “All I could do was try to take even the smallest positives from the situation and remind myself that every downward spiral eventually comes to an end.”

“At some point, it also becomes a mental issue on top of the physical problems. There was simply nobody who could give any definitive answers.”

Watching on from the sidelines

As Zentner’s teammates managed to remarkably haul themselves out of danger for the third time in five years and also enjoyed several euphoric nights in European competition, Zentner felt motivated by the team’s success but also couldn’t help feeling a little down about the state of affairs: “I missed the chance to help the boys avoid the drop, and I could only watch on in the last few games of our Conference league run. It was a six month period where we played a lot of football, a lot of special games at that. Of course, that does hurt.” The frustration of his period out made it all the more heart-warming to see how passionately the fans cheered for him as he first returned to the matchday squad for the game against FC Bayern München and took part in the pre-match warm-up with his teammates. “It was a special feeling, as I could really feel how the fans were enjoying the moment with me. When you have so many people involved in a comeback like that, it’s just an incredible feeling.

With the season all but over for the returnee, with Daniel Batz set to get the chance to run out in a Mainz 05 jersey one last time in Heidenheim, Zentner is feeling good nonetheless. He’s more than happy to cheer on his teammate, who will leave FSV this summer, in a game where the 17th-place hosts still have a lot to play for, which will ensure a rocking Voith-Arena come Saturday. “There are other teams that will be hopeful for us this weekend. We have a responsibility to play as well as we can and try and win this game. We know exactly what they’re fighting for. I’m under no impression that it’ll be a quiet day out in Heidenheim,” said Zentner, who will hopefully be resigned to watching on from the bench for the last time for a while.

The goalkeeper did stress that the team needing to pull themselves out of a relegation scrap, as was the case this season, can’t become standard practice. Everyone is aware that not every year will end with Mainz finding the right formula to narrowly avoid the drop. “To think this is something you can simply take for granted is a dangerous mindset. We already said two years ago that enough was enough,” said Robin Zentner, referring to when the side had to fight for survival under then-coach Bo Henriksen. “We want to become more stable and continue to develop, and certainly not keep swinging from one extreme to the other.”