Borussia Dortmund kept the gap to league leaders Bayern München at five points by coming from behind to beat FC Augsburg 3-1 on Sunday. World Champion Mats Hummels sat down with DFB.de to discuss his side’s title hopes, BVB’s form and of course the upcoming international fixtures for Die Mannschaft: against England in Berlin this Saturday (kick-off 20:45 CET) and against Italy in Munich on Tuesday.
Question: Mr. Hummels, what are your thoughts on the 3-1 win over Augsburg?
Mats Hummels: I think it was just further proof of our maturity – we went behind, but we stayed calm and we knew that we had lots of time to get back into the game. Conceding the opener was obviously annoying. It was a difficult game, since Augsburg were only focussed on defending for pretty much the whole 90 minutes – that meant we also left some gaps as we were more and more expansive and we took a few more risks in our passing game as we tried to break them down. Nevertheless we played very well – we were patient and we kept making the right runs, because we knew that there would come a time when they would be able to do nothing about it.
Question: Was your maturity proved by the fact that you didn’t drop any points despite going behind – which is perhaps a little different to other games this season?
Hummels: You can drop points from time to time. If the game had finished 1-1, that would have been alright. The most important thing is the way we go about it – that we don’t panic and start playing long balls in the 35th minute. We know that our attacking players have such unbelievable quality that we can score a goal at any time. We’re relying on that at the moment, and the boys are delivering.
Question: What was the big thing that changed in comparison to the first half?
Hummels: We were a bit more precise. In the first half our touch was a bit sloppy, and I was guilty of that too – the whole team was guilty of it, whether it was a misplaced pass here or a lost challenge there. Caiuby’s chance was symptomatic of that in the way that three of four of our players just didn’t close down the ball and he suddenly found himself clean through on goal. That just showed that we simply weren’t there at that point – but we regained our concentration and we kept the ball a lot better after that. Also, I think we were brilliant after going 3-1 up because we let the ball do the work and made the other team do all the running.
Question: Regarding Bayern München, would it be an advantage to not always have to play catch-up?
Hummels: We’d love to put them in our situation, where they’re perhaps under a bit of pressure, but on the other hand you have to say that Bayern are playing some amazing football – they’re hardly conceding any goals. Köln had maybe one chance on Saturday, and up top they’ve got Thomas Müller and Robert Lewandowski putting them away for fun. That’s why they deserve to be up there – but if they ever stumble, we’ll always be there waiting. We’ll just have to see how long this goes on for.
Question: With the national team, are you now acting as a bit of a psychologist for your former teammate Mario Götze?
Hummels: You don’t need to exaggerate it so much. Mario was having a great season with Bayern before he got injured (Götze suffered a thigh injury in October last year) – he’s just been unlucky. But of course we’ll try our best to pump him up so that he knows that his role with the national side is bigger and more important than his role at FC Bayern at the moment. He’s an amazing footballer, and it’s a shame for him that he’s not getting a chance at the moment.
Question: What are your thoughts on the games against England and Italy?
Hummels: We played the exact same games in November 2013 – back then we played in Italy and then in England, and this time both games are at home. They’re both obviously huge matches. I think it’s great that we’ve organised these international fixtures so that two such prestigious teams can come and play on our patch. I hope we can put in a decent performance as a dress rehearsal, even if they aren’t our final friendlies before the European Championship. We have to show that we can, and will, up our game from the qualifying phase.
Question: Do you still think about the experiences in Paris and Hannover?
Hummels: To be honest, no. If I thought about it too much, then my enjoyment of the game would suffer too. I just hope – especially when you read what’s going on in Istanbul at the moment – that it all goes by without incident. That would be very nice, but to even believe that will happen is quite difficult for me at times.
[mmc/sm]
Borussia Dortmund kept the gap to league leaders Bayern München at five points by coming from behind to beat FC Augsburg 3-1 on Sunday. World Champion Mats Hummels sat down with DFB.de to discuss his side’s title hopes, BVB’s form and of course the upcoming international fixtures for Die Mannschaft: against England in Berlin this Saturday (kick-off 20:45 CET) and against Italy in Munich on Tuesday.
Question: Mr. Hummels, what are your thoughts on the 3-1 win over Augsburg?
Mats Hummels: I think it was just further proof of our maturity – we went behind, but we stayed calm and we knew that we had lots of time to get back into the game. Conceding the opener was obviously annoying. It was a difficult game, since Augsburg were only focussed on defending for pretty much the whole 90 minutes – that meant we also left some gaps as we were more and more expansive and we took a few more risks in our passing game as we tried to break them down. Nevertheless we played very well – we were patient and we kept making the right runs, because we knew that there would come a time when they would be able to do nothing about it.
Question: Was your maturity proved by the fact that you didn’t drop any points despite going behind – which is perhaps a little different to other games this season?
Hummels: You can drop points from time to time. If the game had finished 1-1, that would have been alright. The most important thing is the way we go about it – that we don’t panic and start playing long balls in the 35th minute. We know that our attacking players have such unbelievable quality that we can score a goal at any time. We’re relying on that at the moment, and the boys are delivering.
Question: What was the big thing that changed in comparison to the first half?
Hummels: We were a bit more precise. In the first half our touch was a bit sloppy, and I was guilty of that too – the whole team was guilty of it, whether it was a misplaced pass here or a lost challenge there. Caiuby’s chance was symptomatic of that in the way that three of four of our players just didn’t close down the ball and he suddenly found himself clean through on goal. That just showed that we simply weren’t there at that point – but we regained our concentration and we kept the ball a lot better after that. Also, I think we were brilliant after going 3-1 up because we let the ball do the work and made the other team do all the running.
Question: Regarding Bayern München, would it be an advantage to not always have to play catch-up?
Hummels: We’d love to put them in our situation, where they’re perhaps under a bit of pressure, but on the other hand you have to say that Bayern are playing some amazing football – they’re hardly conceding any goals. Köln had maybe one chance on Saturday, and up top they’ve got Thomas Müller and Robert Lewandowski putting them away for fun. That’s why they deserve to be up there – but if they ever stumble, we’ll always be there waiting. We’ll just have to see how long this goes on for.
Question: With the national team, are you now acting as a bit of a psychologist for your former teammate Mario Götze?
Hummels: You don’t need to exaggerate it so much. Mario was having a great season with Bayern before he got injured (Götze suffered a thigh injury in October last year) – he’s just been unlucky. But of course we’ll try our best to pump him up so that he knows that his role with the national side is bigger and more important than his role at FC Bayern at the moment. He’s an amazing footballer, and it’s a shame for him that he’s not getting a chance at the moment.
Question: What are your thoughts on the games against England and Italy?
Hummels: We played the exact same games in November 2013 – back then we played in Italy and then in England, and this time both games are at home. They’re both obviously huge matches. I think it’s great that we’ve organised these international fixtures so that two such prestigious teams can come and play on our patch. I hope we can put in a decent performance as a dress rehearsal, even if they aren’t our final friendlies before the European Championship. We have to show that we can, and will, up our game from the qualifying phase.
Question: Do you still think about the experiences in Paris and Hannover?
Hummels: To be honest, no. If I thought about it too much, then my enjoyment of the game would suffer too. I just hope – especially when you read what’s going on in Istanbul at the moment – that it all goes by without incident. That would be very nice, but to even believe that will happen is quite difficult for me at times.
