I would never have thought I was capable of sitting on the bench as the number two man. And it showed me that you can really achieve everything in life, even the unthinkable, as long as you're willing to work on yourself a little bit.

I have a feeling we are going to be world champions, I can't really explain why. Brazil are probably the best team in the world in terms of individual players. But the team with the most gifted players do not always win.

The realization that you're not always standing down there on the field merely to win, to be successful, was very liberating. One can be successful by helping the team, the other players. All of a sudden I felt the kind of empathy for people that I hadn't felt before.

A Germany team should not be afraid going into a tournament. History shows that we can raise the level of our game when it matters.

It looked pretty wild, but I was actually in control of myself. I've never really injured anyone throughout my career.

I was so obsessed with football that you could say I was taking the goal home with me at night. And then one day the system fell apart.

I'm not the type who spends his free time in training camp playing with his Playstation or playing cards on trips. The other players thought it was odd: There he is, reading again.