After a decade in a club it's quite normal and necessary that you seek and take a new challenge.

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.

I think Neuer changed the game of goalkeeping in the World Cup.

When you look at our programme for the next few weeks, you do not fancy a trip to the Oktoberfest.

It's part of my game to occasionally send a message, one that may be unpopular to the outside world, but can be important for the team.

Of course, success is a relative term. It can be something completely different from winning the German championship eight times or making millions.

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.