When Germany play Austria in World Cup qualifying on Friday (from 8.45 pm CET on ZDF), Philipp Lahm will win his 100th cap. And there could be no better place for it either, as the match takes place on Lahm's home patch, the Allianz Arena in Munich. In the DFB.de interview of the week, the 29-year-old spoke to reporter Steffen Lüdeke about his milestone, and looked back on the memorable victories, defeats and goals that have marked his international career.
DFB.de: Philipp Lahm, you make your 100th full international appearance in Munich this Friday. What does it mean to you?
Philipp Lahm: It's a magnificent milestone and something very special, although I have to say the figure of 100 was never a target I'd been consciously working towards down the years. As a player, it’s not one of your ambitions to make a certain number of appearances, but obviously it's a very good thing indeed. When I look back to the past and see how many outstanding players didn't make it to 100 caps, Gerd Müller or Uwe Seeler for example, you realise it’s definitely special when you make it there yourself.
DFB.de: Do you know who’s still ahead of you in the all-time ranking?
Lahm: Not in detail, but I know approximately where I am compared to the truly great German footballers. For example, I'm aware Franz Beckenbauer won more than 100 caps and Lothar Matthäus is the most-capped player.
DFB.de: You come from Munich, you play for Bayern, and now you're poised to earn your 100th cap in Munich. It couldn't really be any better, could it?
Lahm: It really has come together incredibly well. It's going to be a special match, and I'm privileged to be playing it in my own backyard, as it were, which is fantastic. My family will be there, lots of my friends are coming, and plenty of acquaintances too. And the whole thing involves more than just 90 minutes on Friday. We're spending the build-up in Munich, and that’s always great for me personally. After all, you’re always happiest at home.
DFB.de:This is an appropriate moment to look back into the past. How well do you remember the international match on 15 November 2003?
Lahm: I don't have any particularly strong memories. It must have been a game against France, which I think Germany lost 3-0. But I wasn't involved in the national team at that point, my first international came later.
DFB.de: Indeed. In fact, that was the last match before Philipp Lahm became a member of the national team. Before then, what did the Lahm household do on the evening of an international?
Lahm: There wasn’t a fixed routine to speak of. Obviously, when I was still a boy, the family regularly gathered at home to watch the game on TV. So the situation in our house was basically like most living rooms in Germany. Later on, I would often be out with my mates, and we would get together in a big group to watch the matches.
DFB.de: That ended once and for all when you were promoted to the senior team and made your Germany debut in Croatia on 18 February 2004. Can you remember how it all happened at the time? Who told you you'd been called up?
Lahm: It was Felix Magath, my coach in Stuttgart. He called me into his room before training and told me he'd just been informed by boss Rudi Völler that I'd been called up to the squad. I was 20 and I’d only just signed professional forms. The call-up came as a total surprise to me, which made me even more thrilled and delighted. I think we met up in Frankfurt and flew on to Split. Obviously, everything was new, exciting and stimulating. It's not every day you enter the world of the national team.
DFB.de: You were on loan to Stuttgart from Munich at the time, so you basically knew the players from VfB and FCB. These days the Germany squad is packed with Bayern players, but that wasn’t the case back then. Who was your closest confidant on your first international trip?
Lahm: It's hard to say for certain, but I certainly knew a few of the guys. Stuttgart had a couple of players in the national team at the time. There was a fresh, young team at VfB back then, with Andreas Hinkel, Kevin Kuranyi, and Timo Hildebrand, if I remember correctly. So there was plenty of support and I certainly didn't feel left out.
DFB.de: How important is that kind of support when you're just breaking into the national team? As captain nowadays, do you make a special effort to help new players settle in quickly?
Lahm: I certainly keep an eye on things. But there's no comparison between the situation now and 2004. There were plenty of older players in the squad back then, and there were no players I knew from the junior national teams for example, so I was certainly pleased I wasn't the only player from VfB. Looking at the national team in 2013, just look at how many very young players we have - and lots of these young players know each other from the junior national teams, or their clubs. So helping new players settle in is basically never a problem.
DFB.de: You weren't long into your national team career before you did something which isn’t exactly typical of you: you scored in only your third international. How well do you remember that?
Lahm: I remember it very well, especially because goals are a pretty rare commodity in my case. And I have to say there have been more glorious maiden goals for Germany than mine. It was my third international and we played Romania in Bucharest. To be honest, it was a debacle. We were losing 5-0 shortly before the end, and I made it 5-1. Obviously it was too late for any feeling of elation, although it was nice for me personally to score my first international goal.
DFB.de: You went from third division hopeful to full international in the space of six months. Was it hard coming from nowhere into the spotlight in such a short space of time?
Lahm: It's not easy, because so many things change so quickly and so dramatically. And it's not just about being watched and evaluated as a player. You have to learn to deal with that, but that's basically the easier part. The more difficult thing as an international is being watched all the time away from the field. When you go shopping, or go out for a meal, you’re very rarely left completely in peace. I saw it as a test of sorts, I had to acclimatise and not get put off by it. And you have to learn to deal with the media, because as an international you're much more regularly asked for interviews.
DFB.de: Is it even more difficult for today's young players? The media presence is significantly greater compared to 2004, with the addition of platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. And everyone has a camera in their phone, so there's a much greater risk of being spied on in your private life.
Lahm: I always find it difficult comparing the situation today with how it was back then. The level of media interest is far more extreme now, and we just didn’t have the wholesale, immediate sharing of content via Facebook and Twitter in 2004. Against that, the current generation of players has grown up with it and is also much more attuned to these things. But as a general rule, it's just as important today as it was back then that the players are in the right environment, in terms of family, friends and the right management. I've been lucky, because the situation is first class for me in every respect.
DFB.de: Your ascent to the top was rapid, but you've been through hard times too. You sustained two serious injuries in 2005, a fractured metatarsal and then a torn cruciate. How did you overcome the setbacks?
Lahm: I didn't make a single appearance for Germany that year, so that wasn’t great, especially as I'd only been in the squad for a year before that. And you never know for certain how your career might unfold after such serious injuries. But I was basically always convinced I'd be back. Your first reaction is deep disappointment and resentment, but in my case I managed to focus on the future very quickly.
DFB.de: You've made 99 international appearances so far. Can you say which was your best?
Lahm: I always have problems evaluating my own performance, and that's particularly the case when asked to compare individual matches. So I don't want to single out one of my 99 appearances. There have certainly been a couple of games where I'd say I was very good, but I'll leave it to others to judge which was the best.
DFB.de: Have you any idea of your personal record? How many of the 99 ended in wins, how many were defeats, and how many draws?
Lahm: To be perfectly frank, I have no idea whatsoever.
DFB.de: And if you were forced to guess…
Lahm: Wow, that's a tough one. I'm sure it's safe to assume it's a very positive record. (laughs) So tell me!
DFB.de: It's 71 wins, 15 draws and 13 defeats. Satisfactory, surely?
Lahm:It certainly doesn't sound horrendous (laughs). But I don't think the numbers in and of themselves make any kind of relevant statement. After all, the decisive factor isn't just how many games you win, but that you win the crucial games. If you're evaluating a playing record, you shouldn't just look at the number of victories, you should focus on results at major tournaments. That's what matters. How often was he in the semi-finals? How often did he contest the final? If I look at how we've come on since 2004, I can be absolutely satisfied in this respect. We’ve made the semi-finals at worst at every tournament since 2006, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of, although obviously we'd have been delighted to take the final step.
DFB.de: Wof the 13 defeats were the most painful?
Lahm: I can't remember them all, although fortunately there haven’t been very many. Clearly, defeats at major tournaments are the ones that stick in the memory. Being knocked out in the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup in extra time against Italy, losing the EURO 2008 final to Spain. We came very close in the 2010 World Cup semi-final against the Spanish, and the semi-final defeat to Italy at EURO 2012 obviously left a bitter taste. But wouldn’t we rather talk about our greatest victories?
DFB.de: That was going to be the next question, so over to you!
Lahm: The opening match at the 2006 World Cup will always be very special to me personally - it was in Munich of course. And I scored the opening goal, so a lot of things came together at that moment. There were any number of wonderful moments and great victories in our home World Cup. The quarter-final against Argentina, the tension in the penalty shootout, that was unforgettable. And in 2008 when we beat Portugal 3-2 in the quarter-finals. I could list any number of fantastic victories. How about the 2010 World Cup, a terrific 4-1 victory over England in the last sixteen, and an outstanding 4-0 win against Argentina in the quarter-finals. It was the same at EURO 2012: we comfortably progressed through the group with fine victories over the Netherlands and Portugal. Fortunately, my 99 matches include one or two excellent victories.
DFB.de: You're presented with a medal by the DFB after every international appearance. What you do with them all?
Lahm: I keep the whole lot in a display case at home in our home office.
DFB.de: And the captain's armbands?
Lahm: They don't belong to me personally. I get one before every match from our kit man Thomas Mai, although I've always taken one home as a souvenir from each major tournament.
DFB.de: When you joined the national team, Germany were some way off the world elite. Nowadays, the likes of Draxler and Götze have come into a team which is already one of the world's best. Do you envy the younger players, or do you think it was important for your career to go through this process?
Lahm: I'm not jealous in any way. I think contributing to this process has been great. And let's not make the 2004 team out to be worse than it really was. We shouldn't forget that Germany finished runners-up at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. But I still think it's good to have been part of the development process as a whole. I've gained experience which I'm still benefiting from today.
DFB.de: After a couple of failed attempts, you captained Bayern to Champions League glory last season. Was it even more of a triumph in the light of the disappointments of the past, specifically defeat in the 2010 and 2012 finals? And would winning the World Cup in 2014 mean even more, because you know from the past how difficult winning international trophies really is?
Lahm: It's true we came very close in the Champions League several times. For me personally, I'd say it was a long and tough journey, and we invested a huge amount in this success over the years. But I don't believe your joy and delight is greater as a result. Looking at our players who contested their first Champions League final against Dortmund, I can't say they were any less pleased. And I have no idea how it will be at the World Cup. In any case, we have to qualify before we can start talking about possibly winning the thing.
DFB.de: Victory over Austria on Friday would certainly be helpful. Germany won the reverse fixture in Vienna 2-1, but it was tough and a close-run thing. What are you expecting from the return?
Lahm: Austria are definitely very dangerous. And we know Austria are always totally fired up for matches against Germany. But obviously, Germany have to beat Austria, no question.
DFB.de: Not least because otherwise the captain will be angry about his milestone evening being spoiled.
Lahm: Something like that. (laughs) And I’ll make that very clear indeed to the players beforehand.
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When Germany play Austria in World Cup qualifying on Friday (from 8.45 pm CET on ZDF), Philipp Lahm will win his 100th cap. And there could be no better place for it either, as the match takes place on Lahm's home patch, the Allianz Arena in Munich. In the DFB.de interview of the week, the 29-year-old spoke to reporter Steffen Lüdeke about his milestone, and looked back on the memorable victories, defeats and goals that have marked his international career.
DFB.de: Philipp Lahm, you make your 100th full international appearance in Munich this Friday. What does it mean to you?
Philipp Lahm: It's a magnificent milestone and something very special, although I have to say the figure of 100 was never a target I'd been consciously working towards down the years. As a player, it’s not one of your ambitions to make a certain number of appearances, but obviously it's a very good thing indeed. When I look back to the past and see how many outstanding players didn't make it to 100 caps, Gerd Müller or Uwe Seeler for example, you realise it’s definitely special when you make it there yourself.
DFB.de: Do you know who’s still ahead of you in the all-time ranking?
Lahm: Not in detail, but I know approximately where I am compared to the truly great German footballers. For example, I'm aware Franz Beckenbauer won more than 100 caps and Lothar Matthäus is the most-capped player.
DFB.de: You come from Munich, you play for Bayern, and now you're poised to earn your 100th cap in Munich. It couldn't really be any better, could it?
Lahm: It really has come together incredibly well. It's going to be a special match, and I'm privileged to be playing it in my own backyard, as it were, which is fantastic. My family will be there, lots of my friends are coming, and plenty of acquaintances too. And the whole thing involves more than just 90 minutes on Friday. We're spending the build-up in Munich, and that’s always great for me personally. After all, you’re always happiest at home.
DFB.de:This is an appropriate moment to look back into the past. How well do you remember the international match on 15 November 2003?
Lahm: I don't have any particularly strong memories. It must have been a game against France, which I think Germany lost 3-0. But I wasn't involved in the national team at that point, my first international came later.
DFB.de: Indeed. In fact, that was the last match before Philipp Lahm became a member of the national team. Before then, what did the Lahm household do on the evening of an international?
Lahm: There wasn’t a fixed routine to speak of. Obviously, when I was still a boy, the family regularly gathered at home to watch the game on TV. So the situation in our house was basically like most living rooms in Germany. Later on, I would often be out with my mates, and we would get together in a big group to watch the matches.
DFB.de: That ended once and for all when you were promoted to the senior team and made your Germany debut in Croatia on 18 February 2004. Can you remember how it all happened at the time? Who told you you'd been called up?
Lahm: It was Felix Magath, my coach in Stuttgart. He called me into his room before training and told me he'd just been informed by boss Rudi Völler that I'd been called up to the squad. I was 20 and I’d only just signed professional forms. The call-up came as a total surprise to me, which made me even more thrilled and delighted. I think we met up in Frankfurt and flew on to Split. Obviously, everything was new, exciting and stimulating. It's not every day you enter the world of the national team.
DFB.de: You were on loan to Stuttgart from Munich at the time, so you basically knew the players from VfB and FCB. These days the Germany squad is packed with Bayern players, but that wasn’t the case back then. Who was your closest confidant on your first international trip?
Lahm: It's hard to say for certain, but I certainly knew a few of the guys. Stuttgart had a couple of players in the national team at the time. There was a fresh, young team at VfB back then, with Andreas Hinkel, Kevin Kuranyi, and Timo Hildebrand, if I remember correctly. So there was plenty of support and I certainly didn't feel left out.
DFB.de: How important is that kind of support when you're just breaking into the national team? As captain nowadays, do you make a special effort to help new players settle in quickly?
Lahm: I certainly keep an eye on things. But there's no comparison between the situation now and 2004. There were plenty of older players in the squad back then, and there were no players I knew from the junior national teams for example, so I was certainly pleased I wasn't the only player from VfB. Looking at the national team in 2013, just look at how many very young players we have - and lots of these young players know each other from the junior national teams, or their clubs. So helping new players settle in is basically never a problem.
DFB.de: You weren't long into your national team career before you did something which isn’t exactly typical of you: you scored in only your third international. How well do you remember that?
Lahm: I remember it very well, especially because goals are a pretty rare commodity in my case. And I have to say there have been more glorious maiden goals for Germany than mine. It was my third international and we played Romania in Bucharest. To be honest, it was a debacle. We were losing 5-0 shortly before the end, and I made it 5-1. Obviously it was too late for any feeling of elation, although it was nice for me personally to score my first international goal.
DFB.de: You went from third division hopeful to full international in the space of six months. Was it hard coming from nowhere into the spotlight in such a short space of time?
Lahm: It's not easy, because so many things change so quickly and so dramatically. And it's not just about being watched and evaluated as a player. You have to learn to deal with that, but that's basically the easier part. The more difficult thing as an international is being watched all the time away from the field. When you go shopping, or go out for a meal, you’re very rarely left completely in peace. I saw it as a test of sorts, I had to acclimatise and not get put off by it. And you have to learn to deal with the media, because as an international you're much more regularly asked for interviews.
DFB.de: Is it even more difficult for today's young players? The media presence is significantly greater compared to 2004, with the addition of platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. And everyone has a camera in their phone, so there's a much greater risk of being spied on in your private life.
Lahm: I always find it difficult comparing the situation today with how it was back then. The level of media interest is far more extreme now, and we just didn’t have the wholesale, immediate sharing of content via Facebook and Twitter in 2004. Against that, the current generation of players has grown up with it and is also much more attuned to these things. But as a general rule, it's just as important today as it was back then that the players are in the right environment, in terms of family, friends and the right management. I've been lucky, because the situation is first class for me in every respect.
DFB.de: Your ascent to the top was rapid, but you've been through hard times too. You sustained two serious injuries in 2005, a fractured metatarsal and then a torn cruciate. How did you overcome the setbacks?
Lahm: I didn't make a single appearance for Germany that year, so that wasn’t great, especially as I'd only been in the squad for a year before that. And you never know for certain how your career might unfold after such serious injuries. But I was basically always convinced I'd be back. Your first reaction is deep disappointment and resentment, but in my case I managed to focus on the future very quickly.
DFB.de: You've made 99 international appearances so far. Can you say which was your best?
Lahm: I always have problems evaluating my own performance, and that's particularly the case when asked to compare individual matches. So I don't want to single out one of my 99 appearances. There have certainly been a couple of games where I'd say I was very good, but I'll leave it to others to judge which was the best.
DFB.de: Have you any idea of your personal record? How many of the 99 ended in wins, how many were defeats, and how many draws?
Lahm: To be perfectly frank, I have no idea whatsoever.
DFB.de: And if you were forced to guess…
Lahm: Wow, that's a tough one. I'm sure it's safe to assume it's a very positive record. (laughs) So tell me!
DFB.de: It's 71 wins, 15 draws and 13 defeats. Satisfactory, surely?
Lahm:It certainly doesn't sound horrendous (laughs). But I don't think the numbers in and of themselves make any kind of relevant statement. After all, the decisive factor isn't just how many games you win, but that you win the crucial games. If you're evaluating a playing record, you shouldn't just look at the number of victories, you should focus on results at major tournaments. That's what matters. How often was he in the semi-finals? How often did he contest the final? If I look at how we've come on since 2004, I can be absolutely satisfied in this respect. We’ve made the semi-finals at worst at every tournament since 2006, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of, although obviously we'd have been delighted to take the final step.
DFB.de: Wof the 13 defeats were the most painful?
Lahm: I can't remember them all, although fortunately there haven’t been very many. Clearly, defeats at major tournaments are the ones that stick in the memory. Being knocked out in the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup in extra time against Italy, losing the EURO 2008 final to Spain. We came very close in the 2010 World Cup semi-final against the Spanish, and the semi-final defeat to Italy at EURO 2012 obviously left a bitter taste. But wouldn’t we rather talk about our greatest victories?
DFB.de: That was going to be the next question, so over to you!
Lahm: The opening match at the 2006 World Cup will always be very special to me personally - it was in Munich of course. And I scored the opening goal, so a lot of things came together at that moment. There were any number of wonderful moments and great victories in our home World Cup. The quarter-final against Argentina, the tension in the penalty shootout, that was unforgettable. And in 2008 when we beat Portugal 3-2 in the quarter-finals. I could list any number of fantastic victories. How about the 2010 World Cup, a terrific 4-1 victory over England in the last sixteen, and an outstanding 4-0 win against Argentina in the quarter-finals. It was the same at EURO 2012: we comfortably progressed through the group with fine victories over the Netherlands and Portugal. Fortunately, my 99 matches include one or two excellent victories.
DFB.de: You're presented with a medal by the DFB after every international appearance. What you do with them all?
Lahm: I keep the whole lot in a display case at home in our home office.
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DFB.de: And the captain's armbands?
Lahm: They don't belong to me personally. I get one before every match from our kit man Thomas Mai, although I've always taken one home as a souvenir from each major tournament.
DFB.de: When you joined the national team, Germany were some way off the world elite. Nowadays, the likes of Draxler and Götze have come into a team which is already one of the world's best. Do you envy the younger players, or do you think it was important for your career to go through this process?
Lahm: I'm not jealous in any way. I think contributing to this process has been great. And let's not make the 2004 team out to be worse than it really was. We shouldn't forget that Germany finished runners-up at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. But I still think it's good to have been part of the development process as a whole. I've gained experience which I'm still benefiting from today.
DFB.de: After a couple of failed attempts, you captained Bayern to Champions League glory last season. Was it even more of a triumph in the light of the disappointments of the past, specifically defeat in the 2010 and 2012 finals? And would winning the World Cup in 2014 mean even more, because you know from the past how difficult winning international trophies really is?
Lahm: It's true we came very close in the Champions League several times. For me personally, I'd say it was a long and tough journey, and we invested a huge amount in this success over the years. But I don't believe your joy and delight is greater as a result. Looking at our players who contested their first Champions League final against Dortmund, I can't say they were any less pleased. And I have no idea how it will be at the World Cup. In any case, we have to qualify before we can start talking about possibly winning the thing.
DFB.de: Victory over Austria on Friday would certainly be helpful. Germany won the reverse fixture in Vienna 2-1, but it was tough and a close-run thing. What are you expecting from the return?
Lahm: Austria are definitely very dangerous. And we know Austria are always totally fired up for matches against Germany. But obviously, Germany have to beat Austria, no question.
DFB.de: Not least because otherwise the captain will be angry about his milestone evening being spoiled.
Lahm: Something like that. (laughs) And I’ll make that very clear indeed to the players beforehand.
