The 1-2 defeat against FC Augsburg on matchday 18 of the 2023/24 Bundesliga season will one day no longer play a role in Borussia Mönchengladbach’s sporting chronicle. It was a game to forget for the hosts. Gladbach was bad and lost a lead for the eighth time this season. Nevertheless, this game, which was rather meaningless in terms of sport, had a particular relevance for the club atmosphere.
For the 31-year-old Austrian Stefan Lainer, once a three-time Austrian Cup winner and four-time Austrian champion with RB Salzburg, it was “the most emotional game of my career.” That’s what he said after the final whistle. The right-back came on as a substitute in the 71st minute after not playing a competitive game for eight months.
Shortly after the end of last season, Lainer was diagnosed with lymph node cancer in July 2023. After successfully surviving chemotherapy, he gradually returned to training from the end of November. He is healed. But it was only in the last two weeks that he started training at the hardest level again (“Full throttle!”). “I didn’t know before the game whether the coach would give me the first few minutes,” he said on Sunday evening. “The comeback would of course have been a little nicer with a win, but this time it’s more the personal moment of happiness that counts for me.” When he came on, he realized once again how much goodwill so many people showed towards his recovery and his comeback. “The fact that tens of thousands of people were with me in their thoughts is an incredible feeling.” Before he disappeared into the dressing room with a smile, Lainer said: “I’m looking forward to the future.”
It is not yet clear whether this is in Mönchengladbach. Lainer has been playing for Borussia am Niederrhein for four and a half years. His contract expires in the summer. During the recovery period, during the uncertainty, Gladbach’s sports director Roland Virkus recently reported, Lainer did not want to extend the contract on his own initiative. Only now that he is once again important to the team in terms of football is he apparently considering this idea. “We are in discussions,” said Gladbach’s sports director Nils Schmadtke on Sunday evening. Exit open.
“Stevie is a role model for everyone here in terms of fighting spirit and heart – that’s how he beat his illness,” says trainer Seoane
Lainer has witnessed the rise and fall of Borussia over the past four and a half years. He was an indispensable regular player under coach Marco Rose when they played in the 2020/21 Champions League against Inter Milan and Real Madrid and in the round of 16 against Manchester City. Under Rose’s successor Adi Hütter, Lainer missed large parts of the first half of the season due to a broken ankle and under Hütter’s successor Daniel Farke he only made 17 of 34 league appearances.
Lainer was unable to play a role in the big upheaval this season under new coach Gerardo Seoane. Seoane emphasized again on Sunday after the defeat how tough this turnaround is for the squad. An experienced man like Lainer could be helpful with Gladbach’s current main problems: inattention, speed limits, lost leads. Borussia have already given up 20 points this season after taking the lead. On Sunday, Jordan Siebatcheu gave Gladbach the lead in the 26th minute, shortly after the break Augsburg’s Phillip Tietz (47th) and Arne Engels (51st) turned the game around within four minutes.
“That was disappointing,” said Seoane about his team’s poor and error-prone performance, but the return of Lainer was also a consolation and ray of hope for the Swiss. “We are extremely happy that the suffering for Stevie and his family is over; he is a role model for everyone here in terms of fighting nature and heart – that is how he defeated his illness.” And this victory was clearly more important for Stefan Lainer and the Gladbach team on Sunday in Borussia Park.