Christoph Kramer takes a look at the photos and thinks: “That was the craziest time of my life.” In the World Champion’s living room hands a picture from Brazil, which brings back great memories of lifting the trophy. Kramer went on to say: “It’s good that the post World Cup hype has slightly subsided.” The 23-year-old is currently focussed on the hype surrounding his next game: Borussia Mönchengladbach face local rivals 1. FC Köln in the Rhine derby. On carnival Saturday. The excitement in the region is huge.
“Obviously we speak about it. The stories my teammates are telling are fantastic,” said Kramer, who joined Borussia on loan from Bayer Leverkusen in summer 2013, in an interview with kicker. He expects a “tight, tactical encounter.” The midfielder, who ran an average of 12.9km per game last season, a stat which no one bettered, believes that to win the game his team have to “attack in a quick and clever manner in order to create space.”
10 weeks training with the best
Gladbach are currently fifth in the table and are one point behind the Champions League spots. The chance to reach the top-tier of European competition is great, he feels, because of the issues facing BVB. “Dortmund have always been in the top four but they probably won’t be this time.” Consequently, Gladbach have to pick up important points, even if it means “grinding out a couple of results.” Saturday’s game will be anything but easy. 1. FC Köln are the only side yet to concede in 2015 and Borussia found it tough against Schalke’s tight defence last time out.
The 23-year-old, who will return to Leverkusen in the summer, goes into the game full of confidence thanks to his experience at the World Cup. “I was training with the best players for ten weeks: Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Kroos – the best holding midfielders around,” he told kicker. “Having the chance to work with them for 10 weeks was great for me. It was fantastic to see how Toni Kroos controls the ball, to see Bastian Schweinsteiger’s style of play in close quarters and to see how Sami Khedira wins the ball. Training with these guys brought me on leaps and bounds.” Saturday’s game will let us see just how far.
Christoph Kramer takes a look at the photos and thinks: “That was the craziest time of my life.” In the World Champion’s living room hands a picture from Brazil, which brings back great memories of lifting the trophy. Kramer went on to say: “It’s good that the post World Cup hype has slightly subsided.” The 23-year-old is currently focussed on the hype surrounding his next game: Borussia Mönchengladbach face local rivals 1. FC Köln in the Rhine derby. On carnival Saturday. The excitement in the region is huge.
“Obviously we speak about it. The stories my teammates are telling are fantastic,” said Kramer, who joined Borussia on loan from Bayer Leverkusen in summer 2013, in an interview with kicker. He expects a “tight, tactical encounter.” The midfielder, who ran an average of 12.9km per game last season, a stat which no one bettered, believes that to win the game his team have to “attack in a quick and clever manner in order to create space.”
10 weeks training with the best
Gladbach are currently fifth in the table and are one point behind the Champions League spots. The chance to reach the top-tier of European competition is great, he feels, because of the issues facing BVB. “Dortmund have always been in the top four but they probably won’t be this time.” Consequently, Gladbach have to pick up important points, even if it means “grinding out a couple of results.” Saturday’s game will be anything but easy. 1. FC Köln are the only side yet to concede in 2015 and Borussia found it tough against Schalke’s tight defence last time out.
The 23-year-old, who will return to Leverkusen in the summer, goes into the game full of confidence thanks to his experience at the World Cup. “I was training with the best players for ten weeks: Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Kroos – the best holding midfielders around,” he told kicker. “Having the chance to work with them for 10 weeks was great for me. It was fantastic to see how Toni Kroos controls the ball, to see Bastian Schweinsteiger’s style of play in close quarters and to see how Sami Khedira wins the ball. Training with these guys brought me on leaps and bounds.” Saturday’s game will let us see just how far.
