Mergim Mavraj: Centre backs are always somewhat dependent on one another. It is probably the only position in football where you always act as a partner. You have to be able to rely on each other and cover for one another, so you always have to be communicating. Nothing would get done if only one of the pair ever gave instructions.
Question: It is already striking how quickly you have got going as a pair with such little time together.
Mergim Mavraj: It just fits. He is Greek, I am Albanian, the two nations are not far apart and there is a lot of shared history there. On the field you can tell that we play calmly, always willing to step forward and with no fear. It is in the genes!
When the DFB Cup round of 16 draw was made, bringing Hamburger SV and 1. FC Köln together for Tuesday’s match (18:30 CET kick off), Mergim Mavraj was still a Köln player. After moving to HSV in the recent winter transfer window, the centre back is preparing to meet his former side. In this interview with DFB.de he discusses hsi feelings at returning to a familiar setting and seeing former team mates, and his partnership with fellow new HSV arrival Kyriakos Papadopoulos.
Question: Mr. Mavjar, until this last transfer window you were a 1. FC Köln player, and now you are set to come up against them. Has your new head coach Markus Gisdol sought your views on your former side’s strengths and weaknesses?
Mergim Mavraj: Not so far. The strengths are well-known to most. They are a very strong collective unit who work very hard together. In midfield they have a lot of good individuals, as well as Jonas Hector and Anthony Modeste. The team is a mix of collective work and individual excellence, which makes them so difficult to play against.
Question: You know Modeste well from having trained so often against him. What can you do to stop him?
Mergim Mavraj: It was not too difficult in training, but that was just over 10-15 minute spells. Over 90 minutes it will certainly be tougher! (Laughs.) You cannt handle a player of that quality alone for a full match, it has to be a collective effort. We played well against Leverkusen on Friday evening and prevented them from scoring, and with a similar performance we can do the same against Modeste.
Question: After the frustrating loss against Ingolstadt, the win against Leverkusen got the fans back on side somewhat. Four days on from beating Bayer and playing at home again, can you carry the euphoria from that game forward with you into the match with Köln?
Mergim Mavraj: It is always an advantage to play at home, especially in the DFB Cup. I would not say that we won the fans back over particularly as I do not think they needed ‘winning back’. The team ended the first half of the season very well. We played well in Wolfsburg, too,, but the loss in Ingolstadt was something of a slip, but the fans and team exist as one and one poor result cannot break that. But what is also true is that we want to build on the win on Friday with more good results.
Question: In the Bundesliga, HSV have the task of climbing up the table. Does that make it more difficult to focus on the DFB Cup?
Mergim Mavraj: I see the Cup as a chance to maintain our level of performance. It goes for every game that the way we played on Friday has to be the basis from which we start. We can show against Köln that we are capable of doing that. Köln themselves have shown what you can achieve with a functioning team collective.
Question: How much contact are you maintaining with those in Cologne?
Mergim Mavraj: I have a lot of friends in the team and that contact has not been lost, and also will not change after the game. For example, I am very close with Salih Özcan, as well as the likes of Konstantin Rauch and Thomas Kessler. Also Jonas Hector, who very much has his feet on the ground despite his talent, or Leonardo Bittencourt, who brings a bit of madness with him. These are all people I get along with very well.
Question: It must be something special for you to play against a team who you were played for just weeks ago?
Mergim Mavraj: Ultimately, the opponent does not matter to me. We were under pressure after the loss to Ingolstadt and it was clear to everyone what needed to be done. I am proud of the team’s reaction, but we know that it was only one result and we have to make it the foundation for something regardless of the opposition. Of course, though, it will be something to be heading into the away dressing room for me.
Question: Have any of your former team mates congratulated you on the win against Leverkusen? They are Köln’s local rivals after all.
Mergim Mavraj: No, Köln want to advance in the Cup and they would likely be happier if we had lost to Leverkusen. Now they can see that we are a functioning team playing with heart and the fans behind us, and no one wants to come up against that.
Question: You are playing at centre back alongside Kyriakos Papadopoulos, who also arrived at Hamburg in the winter. How does the partnership function? Are you the leader dishing out the instructions?
Mergim Mavraj: Centre backs are always somewhat dependent on one another. It is probably the only position in football where you always act as a partner. You have to be able to rely on each other and cover for one another, so you always have to be communicating. Nothing would get done if only one of the pair ever gave instructions.
Question: It is already striking how quickly you have got going as a pair with such little time together.
Mergim Mavraj: It just fits. He is Greek, I am Albanian, the two nations are not far apart and there is a lot of shared history there. On the field you can tell that we play calmly, always willing to step forward and with no fear. It is in the genes!
