Moppes Petz, Eintracht's long-time goalkeeping coach, was said to have given his goalkeepers the toughest shots ever. “Mine are extremely well placed,” emphasizes Dimo ​​Wache with a smile. That he can still kick the ball or kick it again borders on a miracle. Dimo Wache, once one of the best German Bundesliga goalkeepers, has experienced months in which he had other existential worries. The question was whether he would have to rely on a walker for the rest of his life, and not whether he could ever shoot full tension again.

Guard shoots full tension again. “I do around 85 percent of the shots even though I didn't want to. But it's part of it for me, ”he says. The 48-year-old has been back in his job as a goalkeeping coach at SV Darmstadt 98 for about half a year. Despite the pain. Wache only knows the feeling of being pain-free from distant memories. He is constantly reminded that a long career in goalie was not a health sport. That he was overexploiting bones, tendons and joints.

When he stands on the training ground and works with the three keepers of the "lilies", smelling the smell of grass and cabin every day, he is also reminded that his fighter heart is still intact.

That he worked his way back with an iron will and unbreakable resilience.

Wache had to pause for two and a half years before he returned to the Böllenfalltor in the summer.

Some doctors had given him to understand that there would be nothing with him and freedom of movement.

"Thoughts You Can't Use"

“I've shown that I can do it again. Also at the price that I have constant pain in my knees and my ankle frequently swells. That's fine with me because I knew it wasn't going to be easy. I chose the path consciously, ”he says, the honorary captain of FSV Mainz 05. He played 406 competitive games for Rheinhessen. 406 competitive games, countless training sessions and many a premature return after injuries because the team and coach needed him between the posts have taken their toll. He underwent an almost unbelievable 35 operations.

The last ones were serious: In 2016, Wache got a new joint in his right knee, four years later the left was on, and an ankle joint that had to be stiffened slackened. “I wasn't allowed to perform for three months. There are many stairs in our house on the slope - I was almost trapped on one level. When you need help with even the little things of everyday life, it's hard to take. Thoughts pop up that you really don't need, ”says the giant, who is also type 1 diabetic.

“When I was allowed to put the crutches aside, I hardly had any more muscles and had to learn how to walk again, so to speak.

My walking pattern has been readjusted, I now take significantly shorter steps. ”Wake's 1.94 meter body had to be readjusted, a long, sometimes agonizing process.

One who divided his life into a before and an after.

And it is far from over.

“If I didn't do my exercises every day - no chance,” says Wache.

“Thanks to the weight room in Darmstadt and at home, I can make ends meet to some extent.

It feels like climbing a mountain every day. "