Nicklas Bendtner has said he comes early to training every day in an attempt to force his way back into Wolfsburg’s starting XI as the Bundesliga club prepared for their opening Champions League Group B home match against CSKA Moscow on Tuesday.
The former Arsenal striker was dropped for turning up late to training in April and in July he was forced to train on his own after being told by Dieter Hecking he “clearly lags behind” his team-mates in terms of fitness. Since then, he appears to have turned a corner.
Despite failing to start any of Wolfsburg’s six matches, the 27-year-old has come off the bench on each occasion and scored three times, including a late equaliser against Bayern Munich in the German SuperCup.
“I have a lot of friends and my family around me, who support me,” he told Wolfsburger Nachrichten. “That has meant a lot to me. Just because I have done some things off the pitch, a lot of people have the wrong impression of my career. Every day I come at least half an hour before the training session to train on my own. And after training I am often the last person to leave the pitch. I am very professional.
“I am not pleased [with my playing time]. I have come on and scored three. I do what I can. I can’t do more than that. I want to play.”
The former Arsenal striker also accused the media of misrepresenting some of his off-the-field incidents, which include a drink-driving offence in 2013. He was accused of becoming embroiled in a foul-mouthed drunken exchange in Copenghagen last year.
“Sometimes you make mistakes and I have been punished for my mistakes,” Bendtner said. “It is also about how the media treat these situations. Not everything that has been written has happened but to me caught behind the steering wheel with alcohol in your blood is stupid. I have really done some stupid things, when I was young, that I can’t take back. But it is about learning from those mistakes and moving forward.”
