It was Thomas Tuchel's first season as coach and I played centrally always. The whole team had a great year, one that I enjoyed a lot. Our style has changed a bit, from trying to score within five seconds to a more calm and in some regard more educated style of play. We try to find the right moment - and then we explode.

Only Bayern Munich really have some sort of a guarantee to win if they only catch a good day. All the others need really good days to win. I like that.

My mother used to have a shop in which she offered very colorful clothes. I liked that from my early days on.

When I arrive at our training ground at Borussia Dortmund, everybody could hear just that a few seconds before I can actually be seen. Everybody knows it's me. I love to hear the machine working.

Most of all I hope the tournament [The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations] will help unite our people [in Gabon]. My wish is to celebrate a big party all together.

I've played in France. There, in many matches everybody is already happy if he can secure a point. Here, in Germany? Forget it! Everybody wants to win. The last-placed team in the standings would take any match with the ambition to win it. That makes it so hard, even for the best teams in the league.

There are a lot of things to like about [Borussia Dortmund's fans] and the city of Dortmund as a whole.I like their honesty. And I like that my family and I can feel safe here. I don' t have to worry at all about my safety and their and my own safety. Believe me, in other countries I have made different experiences in that regard. All of this, too, has led to my decision to extend my contract until 2020, and I can imagine staying even longer.