I was so obsessed with football that you could say I was taking the goal home with me at night. And then one day the system fell apart.
I am firmly convinced that you shouldn’t necessarily emphasize hedonism, especially at the beginning of a career, but should instead focus entirely on performance.
It took me a long time to realize that football isn’t martyrdom, but a game that’s enjoyable, and one in which getting better at it is supposed to be fun. Perhaps it would have been better if I had understood this as a young man.
The realization that you’re not always standing down there on the field merely to win, to be successful, was very liberating. One can be successful by helping the team, the other players. All of a sudden I felt the kind of empathy for people that I hadn’t felt before.
I would never have thought I was capable of sitting on the bench as the number two man. And it showed me that you can really achieve everything in life, even the unthinkable, as long as you’re willing to work on yourself a little bit.
I have always seen myself as an athlete. Of course, I made the mistake of unintentionally opening the door to my private life by just a crack. I wouldn’t do the same thing again. It has to be accepted that my private life is private, and if that isn’t the case, I have to do something about it.
Big matches on the big stage are often decided at the back.
After a decade in a club it’s quite normal and necessary that you seek and take a new challenge.
When you look at our programme for the next few weeks, you do not fancy a trip to the Oktoberfest.
I’m not the type who spends his free time in training camp playing with his Playstation or playing cards on trips. The other players thought it was odd: There he is, reading again.
I want to successfully make the transition from a life in professional sports to another life, without running into major upheavals.
Of course, success is a relative term. It can be something completely different from winning the German championship eight times or making millions.
We are Bayern Munich and English teams always have trouble as soon as they leave the island.
It looked pretty wild, but I was actually in control of myself. I’ve never really injured anyone throughout my career.
It’s part of my game to occasionally send a message, one that may be unpopular to the outside world, but can be important for the team.
After the 2006 World Cup, I knew that you don’t always need success, success, success on the pitch.
I’ve never really seen myself in the role of the victim.
If I play, I try to concentrate on producing my best.
A Germany team should not be afraid going into a tournament. History shows that we can raise the level of our game when it matters.
Complaining and arguing will not help. We are fully concentrating on the game against the Czechs.