Red Bull Salzburg defender Max Woebe says that fitness exercises at home were getting on the players' nerves as the Austrian champions re-started training on Tuesday while observing social distancing guidelines.
VIDEO SHOWS: FC RED BULL SALZBURG PLAYER MAX WOEBER, COACH, JESSE MARSCH AND SPORTS DIRECTOR, CHRISTOPH FREUND TALKING ABOUT TRAINING RESUMING / FE RED BULL SALZBURG TRAINING RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT SHOWS: SALZBURG, AUSTRIA (APRIL 21, 2020) (FC RED BULL SALZBURG HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL) 1.
VARIOUS OF RED BULL SALZBURG PLAYERS COMING ONTO PITCH FOR FIRST TRAINING / SOME WEARING MASKS 2.
RED BULL SALZBURG COACH, JESSE MARSCH LAUGHING 3.
MARSCH AT TRAINING 4.
GOALKEEPING COACH, HERBERT ILSANKER COVERING HIS FACE DURING TRAINING 5.
PLAYERS TRAINING ON TWO SIDES OF A BARRIER 6.
PLAYERS TRAINING 7.
VARIOUS OF MARSCH TALKING TO PLAYERS 8.
PLAYERS LISTENING 9.
VARIOUS OF TEAM TRAINING 10.
MARSCH MOVING BETWEEN TWO SIDES OF PITCH TO WATCH TRAINING 11.
TRAINING ON PROGRESS 12.
MOUNTAINS / PLAYERS TRAINING 13.
(SOUNDBITE) (German) RED BULL SALZBURG PLAYER, MAX WOEBER , SAYING: "Yes super, the lawnmower is just going past..It was of course a great feeling to see the lads again, even if we had to keep two metres apart, just to talk again, have a chat, see how everyone is doing, see if everyone is fit.
All of us have missed football and it is a massive relief for all of us that it has kicked off again." PLAYER IS ASKED IF HE MISSED HIS HOME OFFICE AND DOING SIT UPS ON THE TERRACE "No, not at all!
I think it was going massively on all of our nerves, and we gave our fitness trainer a hard time.
But it of course was necessary, we had to stay fit and get fit again, we have big goals ahead and need to be as best prepared as possible." 14.
WHITE FLASH 15.
(SOUNDBITE) (German) RED BULL SALZBURG PLAYER, MAX WOEBER , SAYING: "Of course it's strange when you're not allowed to celebrate together or be happy together when you get a goal, or when something funny happens.
Of course the constellation of the training is a bit different which makes things harder for the coach.
I think though that our happiness to be here on the pitch and to have the ball on our feet having some fun trumps everything else and I think everything else will fall into place over the next weeks." 16.
WHITE FLASH 17.
(SOUNDBITE) (German) RED BULL SALZBURG COACH, JESSE MARSCH, SAYING: (ON FIRST TRAINING) "I think it was ok.
It was of course unusual but I think it worked quite well.
The players were very motivated and engaged and of course we are all happy and excited to be back together again so that was good.
We have to be a bit creative in this situation but the players have so much energy it is working really well for us.
So yes, a great first day." 18.
WHITE FLASH 19.
(SOUNDBITE) (German) RED BULL SALZBURG COACH, JESSE MARSCH, SAYING: (ON FIRST TRAINING) "The first step is to get back to our top fitness and you can talk about tactics technically bit it isn't easy when you have no opposition or when you have to keep this distance.
But our top goal is to be fit, healthy and ready for the coming weeks." 20.
WHITE FLASH 21.
(SOUNDBITE) (German) RED BULL SALZBURG SPORTS DIRECTOR, CHRISTOPH FREUND, SAYING: "Now it is important to take the next important steps together with the other teams and with the league and to set up working groups and discussion groups.
Yesterday we already had some telephone conferences and just now to see how this will all work with the testing and what happens if a player on one of the teams does get infected.
Because we need a good concept to be able to play these games in the future and it could be that these games with no public or the virus accompanies us for a long while and we will have to live with this situation and will have to find a way to bring as much normality to the situation as possible and it can't be that if one player, or one accompanying person or a trainer gets the virus that the whole round has to stop, or that things stop again for two or three weeks.
We have to find possibilities to keep play alive and we are working intensively on this." 22.
WHITE FLASH 23.
(SOUNDBITE) (German) RED BULL SALZBURG SPORTS DIRECTOR, CHRISTOPH FREUND, SAYING: "It is a difficult situation and very clearly also a crisis situation.
It is very challenging which makes it even more important that we now all work together to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible.
Because our line of work only has a chance to survive if we start playing football again, because only then are we interesting again and people start talking about us again and reporting on us again and that is the most important thing for our sector." STORY: Red Bull Salzburg defender Max Woeber said that fitness exercises at home were getting on the players' nerves as the Austrian champions re-started training on Tuesday while observing social distancing guidelines.
Austria has become one of the first countries in Europe to loosen a lockdown imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19 and professional teams have been given the green light to start training in preparation for the resumption of the league.
However, squads have to be split into groups of six and players must remain two metres apart while handshakes and hugs are banned.
"It was of course a great feeling to see the lads again, even if we had to keep two metres apart, just to talk again, have a chat, see how everyone is doing," Woeber told an online news conference.
"All of us have missed football." Asked if he missed staying at home, Woeber said: "I think it was getting massively on all of our nerves, and we gave our fitness trainer a hard time." "But it of course was necessary, we had to stay fit and get fit again, we have big goals ahead and need to be as best prepared as possible." He added: "It's strange when you're not allowed to celebrate together or be happy together when you get a goal, or when something funny happens." Coach Jesse Marsch conceded that it was an unusual practice.
"We have to be a bit creative in this situation but the players have so much energy it is working really well for us," said the U.S. coach, whose side are second in the Austrian Bundesliga.
"You can talk about tactics technically, but it isn't easy when you have no opposition or when you have to keep this distance." The club's sporting director Christoph Freund said there were still unanswered questions about playing again, particularly with regards to medical guidelines.
"It is important to take the next steps together with the other teams and with the league and to set up working groups," he said.
"We need a good concept to be able to play these games in the future.
It could be that the virus accompanies us for a long while and we will have to live with this situation and will have to find a way to bring as much normality to the situation as possible."
Soccer is re-awakening amid the COVID-19 pandemic but the sense of hope at teams which have started training is mixed with worry..