Leon Goretzka supplied Guido Burgstaller with a superb assist to set FC Schalke 04 on course for a victory at Bayer 04 Leverkusen. The Royal Blues ended up earning a 4-1 win and despite not scoring a goal himself, Goretzka was still one of the standout performers on the pitch. An impressive feat, given that the 22-year-old had suffered concussion and a dislocated jaw just eight days ago.
In an interview with DFB.de the three-time Germany international talks about his health, Schalke’s remaining three games this season and the big tournaments in the summer.
Question: In the run-up to the Leverkusen game, you had said that you wanted to treat this away match like a home game. Did that turn out to be the case and did you thank the fans after the game for their support?
Leon Goretzka: What the fans did today was extraordinary. I think they were louder than Leverkusen’s fans for the entire 90 minutes. We have to pay them a huge compliment today. We said that we wanted to approach this game like a home match. We attacked the opponent further up the pitch than we normally do and I think that was good for our game.
Question: However, 40 seconds into the game Leverkusen nearly took the lead.
Goretzka: Our start to the game was definitely not good. But afterwards you once again witnessed how quickly things can change in football. If you manage to be at the right place at the right time and score the goals you can have an impact on the opposition, who are also going through a tough stretch at the moment. Conceding an early goal like that is a certain blow to their ambitions, while we were inspired by the goal. We were able to add a second goal fairly quickly, which essentially killed of the game quite early.
Question: What makes Guido Burgstaller so special?
Goretzka: When he joined us, I asked Alessandro Schöpf what type of guy Guido is, since they already knew each other. I wasn’t very familiar with Burgstaller at the time. I knew that he had scored a lot of goals in the second division, but I’d rarely seen him play. “Schöpfi” told me, that his style was rather unorthodox but it usually always works out for him. He made a fairly accurate point with that description. I think, sometimes he doesn’t even know himself how he manages to find a breakthrough, but he also works extremely hard for the team. We are obviously happy that he is rewarding his performances with goals. That’s what a striker is there for. At the moment he’s doing a great job.
Leon Goretzka supplied Guido Burgstaller with a superb assist to set FC Schalke 04 on course for a victory at Bayer 04 Leverkusen. The Royal Blues ended up earning a 4-1 win and despite not scoring a goal himself, Goretzka was still one of the standout performers on the pitch. An impressive feat, given that the 22-year-old had suffered concussion and a dislocated jaw just eight days ago.
In an interview with DFB.de the three-time Germany international talks about his health, Schalke’s remaining three games this season and the big tournaments in the summer.
Question: In the run-up to the Leverkusen game, you had said that you wanted to treat this away match like a home game. Did that turn out to be the case and did you thank the fans after the game for their support?
Leon Goretzka: What the fans did today was extraordinary. I think they were louder than Leverkusen’s fans for the entire 90 minutes. We have to pay them a huge compliment today. We said that we wanted to approach this game like a home match. We attacked the opponent further up the pitch than we normally do and I think that was good for our game.
Question: However, 40 seconds into the game Leverkusen nearly took the lead.
Goretzka: Our start to the game was definitely not good. But afterwards you once again witnessed how quickly things can change in football. If you manage to be at the right place at the right time and score the goals you can have an impact on the opposition, who are also going through a tough stretch at the moment. Conceding an early goal like that is a certain blow to their ambitions, while we were inspired by the goal. We were able to add a second goal fairly quickly, which essentially killed of the game quite early.
Question: What makes Guido Burgstaller so special?
Goretzka: When he joined us, I asked Alessandro Schöpf what type of guy Guido is, since they already knew each other. I wasn’t very familiar with Burgstaller at the time. I knew that he had scored a lot of goals in the second division, but I’d rarely seen him play. “Schöpfi” told me, that his style was rather unorthodox but it usually always works out for him. He made a fairly accurate point with that description. I think, sometimes he doesn’t even know himself how he manages to find a breakthrough, but he also works extremely hard for the team. We are obviously happy that he is rewarding his performances with goals. That’s what a striker is there for. At the moment he’s doing a great job.
Question: How does your head feel?
Goretzka: Quite good actually. To my surprise, I didn’t have any more problems with my jaw. I had asked other players who’ve had a similar injury and they had problems with chewing for several weeks. My issues went away fairly quickly.
Question: Was the concussion a problem for you?
Goretzka: A concussion is definitely something that has to be taken serious. The brain is very important. If you have an injury or anything alike with your brain, you need to be very responsible with it, which is why, with a heavy heart, I decided not to play in the Leipzig encounter. I did feel fit enough to play, but you have to listen to the advice of the doctors. They have more experience in that regard.
Question: What are your goals this summer? The U21 European Championships and the Confederations Cup are taking place.
Goretzka: My chances of taking part in one of those tournaments are fairly high. We’ll see which one of the two it ends up being, but they are both very exciting events.
Question: But you wouldn’t be against going to Russia?
Goretzka: Of course not.
