Hummels: "I'm a Borussia player through and through"

For twelve long years, Mats Hummels used to play for FC Bayern Munich, from the Under-9s right up to the senior team where he had his Bundesliga debut in May 2007. For the past five years, however, the 23-year-old centre back has been wearing Borussia Dortmund's black-and-yellow shirt, challenging Bayern, German record champions no less – for the position of the nation's flagship club, having clinched not just two successive German championships, but also this year's edition of the German FA Cup – courtesy of a spectacular 5-2 win in the final at Berlin.

This Saturday (kick-off 18:30 h, live on LIGA total! and Sky), the international with 23 caps to his name is going to return to the place he used to call home. He is fully fit now, having overcome a patellar tendon problem that forced him to sit out Dortmund's home game against Düsseldorf (1-1). The clash between the first and the third-placed team is also something of a "German national team summit", with not fewer than eleven Germany players (six at Bayern, five at Dortmund) likely to start the game.

In this interview with DFB.de, Mats Hummels – who has been shortlisted for the FIFA World XI 2012 – discusses Dortmund's chances in the Munich Allianz Arena, his role at Dortmund, and his emotional ties to the BVB.

DFB.de: Mats, having spent your formative years with FC Bayern Munich, you've been a Borussia Dortmund player since 2008. In how far have you become a Dortmunder or, for that matter, a Ruhr area guy?

Mats Hummels: As to Borussia Dortmund the club, my ties to them are as strong as they were to Bayern at the time. I'd say that I'm a Borussia player through and through, and there is really no other club I find myself rooting for when watching games. There is an emotional bond now tying me to Dortmund. Obviously, my family roots are in Munich, and I still have lots of friends there whose number seems to multiply whenever we come down to play there – they all want me to organise tickets for them!

DFB.de: And has your own game changed in any way since you joined the BVB?

Hummels: That's difficult to say because the level is so much higher, plus in the Regionalliga Süd (Germany's fourth tier) I was more of a holding midfielder. Comparing the situation now with five years ago, I think I've become a more active player who sees more of the ball and is actually sought by his team-mates. They pass the ball to me, the centre-back, trusting in me to initiate moves and make things happen – that's a great feeling. Apart from beefing up a bit, generally speaking I haven't really changed. If anything, my game has become slightly more physical than during my youth and amateur football days.

DFB.de: Dortmund's 1-1 draw with Fortuna Düsseldorf has widened the gap between you and Bayern to eleven points. Has this any effect on pre-match motivation?

Hummels: Not in the least, because we're not just focussing on that #1 spot. Leverkusen have overtaken us, with Frankfurt and Schalke lying in wait, so it's all the more annoying that we haven't extended our lead to four points. In fact, either of them might well overtake us if we fail to get anything from the match in Munich. I mean there's worse than picking up a point against Bayern, but we'd prefer winning it, if only to make up for what we missed on Tuesday night.

DFB.de: Bayern have claimed the (unofficial) "autumn championship" in record time, with even a few matches to go before the first half of the season. And yet, in a poll organised by Kicker, almost half of the 24,000 participating readers put their money on a Dortmund victory…

Hummels: Yeah, I must admit this comes as a surprise – 49 percent of those polled believe we'll win, with 37 percent expecting Bayern to succeed. Such an outcome would have been unthinkable only two years ago! It's great to see people put their trust in us like that, but it might just be that the Dortmund fans have made a deliberate effort to come out in droves and vote, certainly in higher numbers than the Bayern supporters. There is no disputing the fact that Bayern are the team in the league at this moment in time. They fully deserve to be where they are, have been much more consistent in their performances than us. We've allowed ourselves a few draws too many.

DFB.de: What, then, fuels your optimism to clinch three points from the game? Perhaps your team's Champions League form so far, against similarly strong opposition?

Hummels: Absolutely. This and the fact that, after a somewhat dodgy start, we're much better now at handling away games. Look at the past six matches away from home and you'll find that with the exception of Madrid, we won five of them. And thirdly, I think our squad has incredible strength in depth, it's just that in the Bundesliga this hasn't been too evident so far. Which explains why we're not standing where we'd like to be. On the other hand, 26 points from 14 matchdays aren't so very bad, are they?

DFB.de: Dortmund have won the last five official games against Bayern in both the league and the Cup. Does that record play any role?

Hummels: Sorry to correct you but Bayern beat us in the pre-season Supercup, which is an official match, too! But I don't think that such stats have any bearing on tomorrow's encounter. Clearly, Bayern will seek revenge for losing all those games in the last two years, but even if they'd managed to draw, they would still go out burning to win.

DFB.de: What kind of an atmosphere do you expect in the Allianz Arena?

Hummels: Well, it's going to be intense, that's for sure. I don't expect the Munich crowd to approach this as just another Bundesliga match. They'll probably do the classic thing like applauding every tackle, cheering every time their own boys regain possession, just to unsettle us.

DFB.de: No other Bundesliga fixture features such a remarkable national team player density…

Hummels: That's right, and I think it reflects the fact that the two teams down there on the pitch are, quite simply, the best teams of the last three or four years in German football, so as far as sporting value is concerned, this game is a hugely attractive proposition. Anyone can see just how good Bayern are. And in addition to all the Germans, they bring on Franck Ribéry, who I think is in the form of his lifetime. We're up against the biggest challenge not just in German, but also in European football terms. We look forward to a great match – with hopefully the right result for us!