Manuel Gulde celebrates his comeback in the Under-23s

Last Sunday, Gulde played the full 90 minutes in the U23s 3-1 defeat away to SC Freiburg as part of the back four. Frank Kramer, the U23 manager, was extremely pleased with Gulde's performance, and sees a lot of positives for the future: “He played very well, and to get through 90 minutes was fantastic.”

Despite the defeat, Gulde himself was relieved to be able to play competitive football again. “Losing is disappointing. But for me personally, it's such a great feeling to be out there playing”, said the defender. “I was nervous before the game, but as soon as the whistle went, that disappeared, and it felt just like how it used to be.”

Gulde is now on the way to being back to his best. “He's trained for three weeks now, and he's been exemplary in that time. Now he has to get some more match practice and eventually he'll be back in the first team squad”, said Kramer.