Few smiles were wider than the one that Christoph Zimmermann was wearing throughout Wednesday evening’s friendly between Norwich City and Darmstadt.
The game, the first of City’s German pre-season tour, offered the chance for the defender to reunite and reminisce with former colleagues that he hadn’t seen since his Carrow Road departure last summer.
Before, during and after the game the warmth of feeling from City’s players and backroom staff towards Zimmermann show how highly thought of he was during a successful five-year spell in Norfolk where he amassed 139 games and won two Championship titles.
His new home is the newly renovated Stadion Am Bollenfalltor – which is preparing for its first top-flight campaign since 2018. Zimmermann himself is set for his Bundesliga debut aged 30.
This friendly was primarily about preparation – but for the ex-City defender, it meant much more than simply topping up his fitness reserves.
“I’m not a huge fan of playing against my former sides,” Zimmermann confessed. “I think I had it only once so far when I went from Gladbach to Dortmund. We lost the game 3-0 and I was awful so I didn’t have a great experience with that.
“It’s always strange playing against your old side and your old love. It was a good game. It fulfilled what it should have fulfilled for both sides because it was a good test, a physical test and obviously the result didn’t go our way but pre-season is about the performance.
“There are things to improve. Norwich made it hard for us to break us down and they scored one more goal than we did – that is the story of the game. In general, I’m happy to see my old mates and it’s been great to see so many familiar faces.”
Norwich have been utilising Darmstadt’s training facilities since they arrived in Germany on Tuesday – meaning Zimmermann was able to catch up with old faces prior to Wednesday’s game.
After our interview, the 30-year-old was seen heading into Norwich’s dressing room to continue the reunion. A host of Canaries players were set to pay him a visit at his family house on Thursday during their afternoon off from training for one final catch up.
“I was able to catch up with some of the staff this morning but whilst the training session was still going on so I didn’t get to speak to the players but I’ve been able to catch up with them now and a bit later, maybe tomorrow,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to spending some time with them because it brings back some good memories and I made so many friends and met so many amazing people in my time at Norwich. Everyone knows how much I loved those five years and that will never change.”
His first season back in Germany has seen Zimmermann win promotion from the second division, and he is now preparing for his first-ever season in the Bundesliga aged 30, facing clubs like Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig.
Reflecting on his move away from Carrow Road as it approaches 12 months since his departure, Zimmermann revealed that after initial teething issues, it has been a success for his career.
“I’m not going to lie, the first couple of weeks were the hardest for me as a professional so far," Zimmermann told the Pink Un after the game.
"I left behind what I was used to and what I knew and what was, on a personal note, a very good life where I was settled.
"I mentioned it when I went back to Carrow Road in late December – Norwich had become our home and where we began a family. It is where my first boy was born, the second was almost born there.
"It was the hardest couple of weeks before my family moved over and before we got settled here. Now it feels a bit more like home.
"Obviously, the football worked, and we had a successful season that wasn’t to be expected. We are very pleased it went that way and every footballer knows that the better you play and the more successful you are, the easier it is to settle as a person as well. I’m very lucky and glad this happened."
Zimmermann opted to pursue a move away from Carrow Road last summer after being informed by Dean Smith that his playing opportunities would be limited.
After lengthy injury struggles and with a young family, Zimmermann was not prepared to sit around and play a bit part role at Norwich. That decision did not come lightly given his affiliation with the club.
Only because of his experiences at Norwich was he able to attract the interest of Darmstadt, in his view.
"I’m very grateful that Norwich gave me the opportunity to leave and to join Darmstadt because the odds of me playing last season were very low and I felt I couldn’t take that risk and therefore the club and Stuart Webber really helped me to get this move," he said.
"If it wasn’t for him or for Norwich, promotion to the Bundesliga and playing there would never have been possible for me. I feel a lot of gratitude for everything that this football club has done for me.”
A Bundesliga debut is the latest milestone to be ticked off in a career that has defied all the odds since his move to England back in 2017.
Considering that, prior to joining Norwich, he found himself playing in the lower leagues and was contemplating moving into teaching – it is something that Zimmermann dreamed about but never thought would become a reality.
“It’s the equivalent of any English boy growing up who wants to play in the Premier League and watched Match of the Day and thinks ‘that is where I want to play one day’.
“It is the same for us in Germany – there is nothing bigger than the Bundesliga here,” Zimmermann said. “Everyone knows a little bit about my story that I turned professional at 24 when I signed for Norwich – before that it was just (playing in) lower leagues.
“If you would have told me before that time that once you look back on your career you will have played a couple of games in the Premier League and the Bundesliga, I would not have believed it. It’s a dream come true for me.
“Now it’s about working hard, getting prepared and then enjoying a couple of seasons in the Bundesliga.”
The challenge at Darmstadt will be similar to what he faced during his two Premier League campaigns with Norwich – attempt to survive against all the odds.
Only Heidenheim will have a smaller ground than Darmstadt next season and it’s expected that Zimmermann’s side will have one of the most modest budgets in the division.
Zimmermann may not have Bundesliga experience to rely upon – but he will be hoping to learn from the lessons that led to Norwich’s top-flight struggles.
“It is one internal thing that is going to be very important for us - in the two Championship seasons that we won, we were such a good team at Norwich. We had the best spirit and the best dressing room.
“Then we lost our way when we got promoted. It’s easier to be a team, even those you aren’t starting, when you are successful because you are winning games and there isn’t much reason for the gaffer to change but when you’re not successful, like in the Premier League, then those who are playing are unhappy because you lost and those who weren’t playing feel they should. It’s difficult to stick together and keep spirits up.
“That’s the regret I have from my time in England,” Zimmermann admitted. “In the Premier League, I didn’t feel that we were as much a team in the Premier League as we were in the Championship.
“With the opportunities that Norwich have in the Premier League being quite limited, it’s the same that we at Darmstadt will have in the Bundesliga, which is comparable; more than anything you need that spirit.
“You cannot buy the best names or best individual quality, but you can create something that goes beyond that – in the final, it isn’t the best 22 individuals but the two best teams.
“That is what we need to rely on. That is the lesson I’ve taken. We need to be hard to beat and make it awful for teams to come here. It felt throughout the Premier League seasons that we were a happy place for opponents to come to, they would roll us over and make fun of us. That really hurt. That is an experience I don’t want to make again.”
Norwich fans will be watching from afar and crossing their fingers for a defender who captured hearts and minds during his spell at Carrow Road.
Blue and white isn’t usually a colour pairing that Norwich fans can attach themselves to – but for Zimmermann, they will make an exception and wish him well in his first Bundesliga foray with Darmstadt.
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