Jaka Bijol will be back in action soon, having returned to full training on Monday. He has set foot on the Bluenergy Stadium turf recently, albeit as an award recipient rather than a player, having been presented with the club’s golden zebra for the best performer last season during the league outing against Salernitana. The defender is now looking to take over the defensive reins once again after a “difficult period”, as he went on to explain.
“It’s been tough for me, as it is for any player who picks up this sort of injury. I’ve trained hard to get back as soon as possible. I trained with the squad today, which was hard but I felt good.”
Bijol also spoke about the team’s current league position and how much the players discuss it.
“We talk about it a lot and ask each other every day what we can do to improve and get an important win. It’s hard to say what’s happening. I just know that we always give 100% in training. It’s a shame we haven’t given the fans three points to shout about recently.”
The Slovenian also reflected on the 1-1 draw on Saturday against Salernitana.
“There are so many moments within a match. You play well in some of them and less well in others. When that happens, we all need to take strides forwards together. I’m sure that we will reach safety. We have the quality and the motivation to achieve good results in our upcoming games. I can’t see how we could go down to Serie B, we’re a real team. I have no fear.”
The defender’s last appearance was on 26 November against Roma when he picked up a bad injury.
“I didn’t realise straight away that it was a serious injury. There wasn’t a moment when I knew I’d broken something. After the game, we realised the extent of it with the doctors. These things do happen in football. The positive is that I hadn’t had many issues before that and I’m ready for the run-in followed by the Euros with my national team.
“I’m the first person to say that I need to feel good on the pitch. If I’m not 100% sure of myself, it doesn’t make sense to play. My team-mates are really good and it wouldn’t be fair on them.”
Bijol also touched on the mistakes that have affected the team in recent matches.
“My team-mates have given their all and played well in many games. There have been some moments when it’s not gone so well, but there are 11 matches to go. The mistakes we’ve made aren’t on the pitch, but in our heads and you can’t really coach that on the pitch.
“I’m proud to receive the golden zebra, which motivates me to keep pushing on. I felt really good today and I’ll have two training sessions tomorrow to get back strongly. I’ll help the team against Lazio in any way that I can even from the sidelines. We’ll assess what needs to be done in the next few training sessions, but I’m nearly there. I want to be back as soon as possible.”
Bijol finished off by uttering words of praise for team-mate Nehuen Perez.
“He’s done so well all season long. There’s been a lot of pressure on him and I want to start helping him out again soon.”