Lienhart hopes to work at EM
Philipp Lienhart would be well placed for many European football championship participants. The 24-year-old Freiburg professional has been delivering stable performances as a regular player in the German Bundesliga for years, but he mostly only plays second fiddle in the central defense of the ÖFB selection. Lienhart has not really gotten past Aleksandar Dragovic and Martin Hinteregger for years.
Lienhart made his debut in the last international match under Marcel Koller in a 1-0 draw on October 9, 2017 in Chisinau against the Republic of Moldova. Since then, only two national team appearances have been added – even though he has had significantly more match practice at club level in the recent past than Dragovic, for example.
Team boss Franco Foda, like his predecessor, relies on the Dragovic / Hinteregger axis – probably also at the upcoming EURO. Nevertheless, Lienhart wants to confirm his qualification for a place in the starting line-up in the training sessions up to the first group game on June 13 in Bucharest against North Macedonia. “Last season was pretty good of me. I gave everything to make the decision as difficult as possible for the coach. I think he knows exactly what I can do,” said Lienhart of the APA.
In contrast to most of the other ÖFB squad members, the Lower Austrian can already look back on tournament experience. Lienhart acted as captain at the U21 European Championship 2019. “It certainly helps that I have already completed one of the finals – I know what it is all about. But the tournament is now a bigger number,” said Lienhart.
The defensive player, trained at Rapid, learned a special lesson from the U21 European Championship in Italy: “It is important that a special team spirit is formed within the team, that everyone knows that it is important, that everyone feels comfortable and everyone at one Pull together. “
In the U21 finals, it was not enough for promotion to the knockout phase. This time Lienhart wants to avoid an end after the group stage. “It's a very exciting group and the Dutch are favorites. It's going to be interesting behind.” The German legionnaire looks forward to the EURO with great anticipation. “We all feel great anticipation. When you have the eagle on your chest, the motivation is huge – you run as much as you can,” said the ÖFB-Internationale with a grin.
The anticipation is also great because Lienhart has had an extremely satisfactory season with SC Freiburg. The Breisgauer finished the season as a solid tenth and were never in danger of relegation after a mixed start phase. Lienhart was in all 36 competitive games of Freiburg in action, in 34 of them over the entire distance. He only saw two yellows, but scored four goals – his first in the German upper house. “I got a lot of trust and paid it back with good performance,” summed up Lienhart.
As a reward, there was a contract extension just two weeks ago. Lienhart thus committed himself to SC Freiburg and did not want to speculate about possibly recommending himself to larger clubs via the EM. “I feel very much at home here and I feel a lot of trust from the coach and club. I'm not at the end of my development yet and here I have perfect conditions to get the most out of myself,” said the defender.
