Götze: “Playing 90 minutes was good for me”

FC Bayern München rounded off a very successful week with a 3-0 home victory over FC Schalke 04. Prior to the Bundesliga victory, Bayern had secured their spot in the Champions League semi-final thanks to a 3-2 victory over Benfica on aggregate. World Champion Mario Götze played the full 90 minutes against the Royal Blues and spoke with DFB.de afterwards about the game and looked ahead to Tuesday’s Cup semi-final against Werder Bremen.

Question: Mr. Götze, where did Bayern find the energy that was missing in the first half?

Mario Götze: It’s actually quite often the case that we struggle in the first half, because the opponents are still fresh. That makes it very, very difficult for us. If we don’t score an early goal, it’s often just a matter of time. More space opened up in the second half and we were able to start creating more chances. I think it was a deserved win and another important step towards the championship.

Question: How exhausting is the tight schedule that you have currently? This week has been quite busy for you, with games on Wednesday, Saturday and you play again on Tuesday…

Götze: It’s quite tiring mentally. For me personally it wasn’t that exhausting today because I didn’t play on Wednesday. But usually these weeks with three games apiece are always quite exhausting. But we are looking forward to Tuesday’s contest – it won’t be easy.

Question: Bremen are currently placed in the lower regions of the standings. What makes this game so tricky?

Götze: In this game it doesn’t matter what position you hold in the Bundesliga standings. For us all that matters is that it’s a semi-final and that we want to reach the final. The game will be 90 minutes long and we know that anything can happen. We’ve all seen it happen before. Small details can make the difference and that’s why we have to stay focussed as always.

Question: Are you looking forward to the reunion with Claudio Pizarro?

Götze: I’m definitely looking forward to seeing him again.

Question: How important was it for you to start against Schalke?

Götze: For me personally it was very good to play the full 90 minutes again. I’m healthy and feeling fit.