Four games for the Germany U21s, four goals. All of the goals have come against Azerbaijan. The first in the 6-1 victory in Cottbus in October and three on Thursday in the Dalga Arena in Baku, propelling Germany to a 7-0 away win. Marcel Hartel made his debut in Stefan Kuntz’s team in September and he is now, two months later, a key component of the side. DFB.de spoke to the 21-year-old 1. FC Union Berlin player about his hat-trick in Azerbaijan and the away game in Israel on Tuesday (KO 18:30 CET).
DFB.de: Marcel Hartel, when was the last time you scored three times in a competitive outing?
Marcel Hartel: Good question. It’s definitely been a while, maybe at some point in my youth career. This is the first time I have scored a hat-trick in a competitive game as a professional, that’s for sure. Normally I see myself more as someone who assists but I showed today that I can score as well. (laughs)
DFB.de: With four goals, you are Germany’s top goalscorer so far in this European Championships qualification campaign.
Hartel: I’m really happy with that, it makes me proud. But without the work of my teammates in the build-up that obviously wouldn’t have been possible. As always in football, you win as a team. It doesn‘t matter to me who scores the goals.
DFB.de: You scored the first and fourth goals, the first one after a minute and five seconds, the second 25 seconds into the second half. You are an expert at starting quickly.
Hartel: We wanted to score an early goal to put pressure on Azerbaijan straight away. We carried out the gameplan perfectly and we were also alert straight after the break. That shows our character and if we can play quick football with our quality up front, we are hard to stop. It didn’t seem like it was only 25 seconds after half-time that I scored my second goal. Not bad! (laughs)
DFB.de: What else was part of your gameplan?
Hartel: We wanted to be focused and professional and to justify our favourites label. We also wanted to keep a clean sheet. We carried that all out perfectly and we can be happy with the performance. We will obviously take the 7-0 result but we only get the three points for it. It’s now about preparing for Tuesday.
DFB.de: Indeed, you’re coming up against Israel in Ramat Gan. What are you expecting from that match?
Hartel: They will definitely be a tougher test than Azerbaijan. We have to go into the game with a clear head and be confident. We want to start where we left off today. We will go through and analyse the opponent at length over the next few days and prepare for it.
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Four games for the Germany U21s, four goals. All of the goals have come against Azerbaijan. The first in the 6-1 victory in Cottbus in October and three on Thursday in the Dalga Arena in Baku, propelling Germany to a 7-0 away win. Marcel Hartel made his debut in Stefan Kuntz’s team in September and he is now, two months later, a key component of the side. DFB.de spoke to the 21-year-old 1. FC Union Berlin player about his hat-trick in Azerbaijan and the away game in Israel on Tuesday (KO 18:30 CET).
DFB.de: Marcel Hartel, when was the last time you scored three times in a competitive outing?
Marcel Hartel: Good question. It’s definitely been a while, maybe at some point in my youth career. This is the first time I have scored a hat-trick in a competitive game as a professional, that’s for sure. Normally I see myself more as someone who assists but I showed today that I can score as well. (laughs)
DFB.de: With four goals, you are Germany’s top goalscorer so far in this European Championships qualification campaign.
Hartel: I’m really happy with that, it makes me proud. But without the work of my teammates in the build-up that obviously wouldn’t have been possible. As always in football, you win as a team. It doesn‘t matter to me who scores the goals.
DFB.de: You scored the first and fourth goals, the first one after a minute and five seconds, the second 25 seconds into the second half. You are an expert at starting quickly.
Hartel: We wanted to score an early goal to put pressure on Azerbaijan straight away. We carried out the gameplan perfectly and we were also alert straight after the break. That shows our character and if we can play quick football with our quality up front, we are hard to stop. It didn’t seem like it was only 25 seconds after half-time that I scored my second goal. Not bad! (laughs)
DFB.de: What else was part of your gameplan?
Hartel: We wanted to be focused and professional and to justify our favourites label. We also wanted to keep a clean sheet. We carried that all out perfectly and we can be happy with the performance. We will obviously take the 7-0 result but we only get the three points for it. It’s now about preparing for Tuesday.
DFB.de: Indeed, you’re coming up against Israel in Ramat Gan. What are you expecting from that match?
Hartel: They will definitely be a tougher test than Azerbaijan. We have to go into the game with a clear head and be confident. We want to start where we left off today. We will go through and analyse the opponent at length over the next few days and prepare for it.
