World Champion Mats Hummels goes into Borussia Dortmund’s training camp fully committed while enjoying himself along the way. Dortmund’s new coach Thomas Tuchel will set up shop for eight days in the Swiss spa town of Bad Ragaz. The players will take part in intense drills overlooking the mountains in the vacation area known as “Heidiland”.
In the first friendly of pre-season BVB picked up a 4-1 victory against FC Luzern. Germany internationals Roman Weidenfeller, Erik Durm, Matthias Ginter, Marco Reus, Ilkay Gündogan and Mats Hummels all played in the match. Reus, Kevin Kampl and Moritz Leitner all scored but it was Hummels who scored the nicest goal in the game. In the 51st minute the Borussia captain scored a peach of a goal from 16 yards out to give Dortmund a 3-0 week.
In an interview with DFB.de the 26-year-old defender sat down with Thorsten Langenbahn talking about his success, his great goal, how pre-season is going, Thomas Tuchel and his aspirations this season and lastly the earlier season start in the Europa League.
DFB.de: Mats Hummels how do you assess the performance in the 4-1 win against FC Luzern?
Mats Hummels: We needed a couple of minutes to find our rhythm. Luzern came out aggressive and it was a good friendly for us. In the first half the centre-backs played playing good passes and removing the pressure of the back four. In the second half we played perfectly except for giving up an annoying goal that we would have liked to have kept out. In the end it was just a friendly and for the most part it was positive.
DFB.de: Have you ever scored such a nice outside of the boot shot from the edge of the box like you did against Luzern?
Hummels: No. It’s great that I just scored the nicest goal of my career in a friendly. Of course it is nice to score such a goal but I would have preferred to do it in a game where it would have given us three points.
DFB.de: Once again you played as left centre-back. Does it make a difference?
Hummels: It is not much of a difference for me. We will see how if this continues over the next couple of weeks. Up until now I have played as a right centre-back now I play left. The last couple of training session saw me play on the left. At the end of the day, I play where the gaffer wants me to. (Smiling) It is a very ordinary sentence but it’s the truth.
DFB.de: What impression do you have of pre-season thus far? What is going well, what is not going well?
Hummels: It is most important that the work starts here. Everyone wants to work hard and everyone wants to forget about last year. We don’t want it to end like it did last season. I think that we are on the way forward.
DFB.de: How hard is it to learn tactics of the new manager? Do you guys progress more and more each day?
Hummels: There are always details that will change. We are used to that. You also get used to the difference between the club level and the International level. Of course you always need to adjust and learn a couple of new things. But, we have already picked up a couple of things relatively fast and we will learn more in the next couple of weeks and months.
DFB.de: The training sessions are very intense in Switzerland. On Monday, you guys trained for two hours and 13 minutes. Do you guys need a break to rest your bodies every now and again?
Hummels: For sure. That is the beauty of pre-season. We only eat, sleep and train. We do not do anything else and that is why we are here. We can train intensely. On Monday Morning we had an intense session. After doing many one-on-one scenarios my thighs started to feel the burn. I haven’t felt like that since I was in the U15’s. But afterwards you feel better. Players can vouch for me, the more sport you do, the more you work and that really brings you satisfaction.
DFB.de: BVB will open their season on 30th July in the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League. Is this early start on your mind?
Hummels: Of course. Now we know this is where it all begins. We want to give it our all. Against Bochum we did the same thing, but the result did not favour us. We have to be better. We don’t want to waste any days and we want to give our all in pre-season. The manager tells and us to give our all and we want to as well.
DFB.de: Is the game on Saturday against Champions League finalist Juventus in St.Gallen your hardest test yet?
Hummels: Of course. There are not that many better opponents in European Football at the moment, let alone in world football. That’s why I hope it is a very strong friendly match for us.
DFB.de: What is the significance of the Europa League Qualification?
Hummels: It is very important for us that we qualify. That is our ultimate goal. Afterwards we will we will take everything day-by-day and improve upon our performances.
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World Champion Mats Hummels goes into Borussia Dortmund’s training camp fully committed while enjoying himself along the way. Dortmund’s new coach Thomas Tuchel will set up shop for eight days in the Swiss spa town of Bad Ragaz. The players will take part in intense drills overlooking the mountains in the vacation area known as “Heidiland”.
In the first friendly of pre-season BVB picked up a 4-1 victory against FC Luzern. Germany internationals Roman Weidenfeller, Erik Durm, Matthias Ginter, Marco Reus, Ilkay Gündogan and Mats Hummels all played in the match. Reus, Kevin Kampl and Moritz Leitner all scored but it was Hummels who scored the nicest goal in the game. In the 51st minute the Borussia captain scored a peach of a goal from 16 yards out to give Dortmund a 3-0 week.
In an interview with DFB.de the 26-year-old defender sat down with Thorsten Langenbahn talking about his success, his great goal, how pre-season is going, Thomas Tuchel and his aspirations this season and lastly the earlier season start in the Europa League.
DFB.de: Mats Hummels how do you assess the performance in the 4-1 win against FC Luzern?
Mats Hummels: We needed a couple of minutes to find our rhythm. Luzern came out aggressive and it was a good friendly for us. In the first half the centre-backs played playing good passes and removing the pressure of the back four. In the second half we played perfectly except for giving up an annoying goal that we would have liked to have kept out. In the end it was just a friendly and for the most part it was positive.
DFB.de: Have you ever scored such a nice outside of the boot shot from the edge of the box like you did against Luzern?
Hummels: No. It’s great that I just scored the nicest goal of my career in a friendly. Of course it is nice to score such a goal but I would have preferred to do it in a game where it would have given us three points.
DFB.de: Once again you played as left centre-back. Does it make a difference?
Hummels: It is not much of a difference for me. We will see how if this continues over the next couple of weeks. Up until now I have played as a right centre-back now I play left. The last couple of training session saw me play on the left. At the end of the day, I play where the gaffer wants me to. (Smiling) It is a very ordinary sentence but it’s the truth.
DFB.de: What impression do you have of pre-season thus far? What is going well, what is not going well?
Hummels: It is most important that the work starts here. Everyone wants to work hard and everyone wants to forget about last year. We don’t want it to end like it did last season. I think that we are on the way forward.
DFB.de: How hard is it to learn tactics of the new manager? Do you guys progress more and more each day?
Hummels: There are always details that will change. We are used to that. You also get used to the difference between the club level and the International level. Of course you always need to adjust and learn a couple of new things. But, we have already picked up a couple of things relatively fast and we will learn more in the next couple of weeks and months.
DFB.de: The training sessions are very intense in Switzerland. On Monday, you guys trained for two hours and 13 minutes. Do you guys need a break to rest your bodies every now and again?
Hummels: For sure. That is the beauty of pre-season. We only eat, sleep and train. We do not do anything else and that is why we are here. We can train intensely. On Monday Morning we had an intense session. After doing many one-on-one scenarios my thighs started to feel the burn. I haven’t felt like that since I was in the U15’s. But afterwards you feel better. Players can vouch for me, the more sport you do, the more you work and that really brings you satisfaction.
DFB.de: BVB will open their season on 30th July in the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League. Is this early start on your mind?
Hummels: Of course. Now we know this is where it all begins. We want to give it our all. Against Bochum we did the same thing, but the result did not favour us. We have to be better. We don’t want to waste any days and we want to give our all in pre-season. The manager tells and us to give our all and we want to as well.
DFB.de: Is the game on Saturday against Champions League finalist Juventus in St.Gallen your hardest test yet?
Hummels: Of course. There are not that many better opponents in European Football at the moment, let alone in world football. That’s why I hope it is a very strong friendly match for us.
DFB.de: What is the significance of the Europa League Qualification?
Hummels: It is very important for us that we qualify. That is our ultimate goal. Afterwards we will we will take everything day-by-day and improve upon our performances.
