You are currently involved in the cross category campaign of your technical partner PUMA. Do you like working together with other international athletes like Usain Bolt or Fernando Alonso like you did for this campaign? Of course it is a pleasant variety and it is always a lot of fun, especially when meeting the other international athletes who were involved with the filming session.
During the EURO 2012 you will be wearing the new evoSPEED 1 FG football boot. How do you like this boot and how many goals you do hope to score for Germany with it? I really like the new boot, because it offers a perfect fit and is also extremely light. But I havent set myself a certain amount of goals for the EURO 2012, because I never do that in general. I dont like setting myself targets.
Which criteria and characteristics in a boot are important to you? For me it is extremely important to have a good fit and to feel comfortable in a boot, especially as the boot is like my day-to-day tool. And of course the weight is an important factor. The lighter a boot is the better. And this is exactly the case with the new evoSPEED 1 FG.
You just extended your contract with FC Bayern Munich until 2016. What are your goals with the team for the upcoming years? FC Bayern Munich is a great club, where I feel very comfortable and see the best chance for me to grow on a professional level. I am sure that we can achieve a lot in the next years. I will do my best to contribute to this.
What is going to happen after 2016? Maybe a transfer to Spain, the home country of your father, or can you see yourself finishing your career in Munich? At this moment this is a very difficult question to answer. Should I eventually not be needed in Munich anymore, I could definitely see myself moving to a club abroad. However right now this seems to be far away in the future.
Since the beginning of this year, you have your own Facebook page with more than 300.000 fans already. How important is the direct communication with your fans to you? I am very pleased about this positive feedback and the great support that I receive from my fans. That is why the direct and personal contact with my fans is very important to me. They follow the matches and support us passionately. For this I would like to thank them and acknowledge their support through my Facebook page.
Do you have a football idol? Romario. He was the very first player that I noticed back then. He was a top-striker, who scored many goals and also he has a very similar name to mine. This is why I always felt a special connection to him when I was a child.
What is never missing in your sports bag? My shin guards.
What are your goals for the upcoming EURO 2012 for the German national team and also for you personally? That is again a very difficult question. Of course winning the title is our big aim. We definitely have the opportunity to win it, as we have a great team, but in such a big tournament like the Euros you can never really plan anything, because many different factors come into play. And of course you need a little bit of luck to win the title. In contrast to earlier tournaments, where I was often a peripheral player, this year it is my personal goal to fulfill an important role within the team, and to contribute to the teams success.
How do you rate the other teams in your group stage? I really have to say that we got an extremely tough group, in which it is a challenge to make it to the next round. Portugal A very difficult task, because Portugal has a very strong team. And sometimes Cristiano Ronaldo can decide over the outcome of the match through one great moment. Denmark A very dangerous opponent. Especially because every other team in this group expects to get three points out of the match against Denmark. Netherlands Also a great and strong team, with lots of great individual players that can be very dangerous.