Christoph Matt still feels like he’s dreaming. The 21-year-old played for 1. FC Rielasingen-Arlen on Saturday against Borussia Dortmund in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. Despite losing 4-0 at home, Matt looks back on an unforgettable day. In an interview with Tim Noller for DFB.de, he talks about the thunderous applause after controlling the ball, the Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang shirt which was so sought-after and a newly founded fan page for him on Instagram.
DFB.de: Four days have passed since the biggest game of your career. Is what happened on Saturday gradually sinking in?
Christoph Matt: I still can’t believe what happened. The others are also still in disbelief. It’s the stuff of dreams. My phone hasn’t stopped going off, I’m still getting messages of congratulations. That is such a cool feeling.
DFB.de: What was your experience of the game like for you?
Matt: I didn’t notice much of the fans during the game unfortunately. I was too focused. It’s like you’re in a tunnel. There were two moments when I realised how loud the atmosphere actually was in the stadium.
DFB.de: So you mean your brilliant control of the ball in the first half and your shot on goal in the second half?
Matt: Exactly. The cheering was really cool. It gave me that extra bit of motivation. I wasn’t actually that nervous during the game. That surprised me. Not even when I slipped up…
DFB.de: And your error very nearly gave Dortmund a penalty, didn’t it?
Matt: Yeah, I misunderstood a signal from the referee and went to ground too early. Luckily it was a few centimetres outside of the penalty area; otherwise it would’ve been a very costly mistake. So I got a yellow card and it was only a free-kick for Dortmund. Gonzalo Castro was laughing and the BVB fans chanted my name for a bit after that. That was really funny.
DFB.de: Losing 4-0 to the defending champions. You can live with that, right?
Matt: It was the best 4-0 loss of my life! The result, the way we played – it was great!
DFB.de: Another highlight came after the final whistle. How did you get Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s shirt?
Matt: I asked him in the 10th minute when I was marking him at a corner. He said he’d give the shirt to me after the game. I couldn’t really believe it and I thought about it for a few minutes afterwards. When he was done with the interviews after the game, I went into the changing room with him and I was just standing there next to Aubameyang and the other BVB players.
DFB.de: What did you do after the game on Saturday evening?
Matt: We stayed at the stadium for a while and then later we went to a wine festival and then to a nightclub. We were there in our training kits and people were constantly coming up to us and asking for a photo or an autograph. Two days ago I got another really funny message.
DFB.de: What was the message?
Matt: Two girls from Bregenz and Bielefeld sent me a message to say they had started a fan page for me on Instagram. They asked me whether it was ok and if I could send them photos for the page. That was crazy. I mean, we play in the fifth division.
DFB.de: The media hype before the game was something that you weren’t used to at all, how did you deal with that?
Matt: It started about a week before the game. Thorsten Legat visited to kick it all off. He motivated us with an emotional but funny team talk in the dressing room and we had a small competition against him on the pitch. On the other hand, the interest is really cool but very stressful. It made me realise what professional footballers have to go through. That aspect of the attention is not as fun.
DFB.de: You’re of course still in the Verbandspokal, you are in the round of 16. You’re only four more victories away from qualifiying for the DFB-Pokal again.
Matt: Once you have experienced it once, you want to do whatever it takes to achieve it again. I can’t put into words what qualifiying for the cup again would mean to me. We couldn’t play BVB again though, Bayern would probably suffice. (laughs)
created by mmc/dfb
Christoph Matt still feels like he’s dreaming. The 21-year-old played for 1. FC Rielasingen-Arlen on Saturday against Borussia Dortmund in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. Despite losing 4-0 at home, Matt looks back on an unforgettable day. In an interview with Tim Noller for DFB.de, he talks about the thunderous applause after controlling the ball, the Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang shirt which was so sought-after and a newly founded fan page for him on Instagram.
DFB.de: Four days have passed since the biggest game of your career. Is what happened on Saturday gradually sinking in?
Christoph Matt: I still can’t believe what happened. The others are also still in disbelief. It’s the stuff of dreams. My phone hasn’t stopped going off, I’m still getting messages of congratulations. That is such a cool feeling.
DFB.de: What was your experience of the game like for you?
Matt: I didn’t notice much of the fans during the game unfortunately. I was too focused. It’s like you’re in a tunnel. There were two moments when I realised how loud the atmosphere actually was in the stadium.
DFB.de: So you mean your brilliant control of the ball in the first half and your shot on goal in the second half?
Matt: Exactly. The cheering was really cool. It gave me that extra bit of motivation. I wasn’t actually that nervous during the game. That surprised me. Not even when I slipped up…
DFB.de: And your error very nearly gave Dortmund a penalty, didn’t it?
Matt: Yeah, I misunderstood a signal from the referee and went to ground too early. Luckily it was a few centimetres outside of the penalty area; otherwise it would’ve been a very costly mistake. So I got a yellow card and it was only a free-kick for Dortmund. Gonzalo Castro was laughing and the BVB fans chanted my name for a bit after that. That was really funny.
DFB.de: Losing 4-0 to the defending champions. You can live with that, right?
Matt: It was the best 4-0 loss of my life! The result, the way we played – it was great!
DFB.de: Another highlight came after the final whistle. How did you get Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s shirt?
Matt: I asked him in the 10th minute when I was marking him at a corner. He said he’d give the shirt to me after the game. I couldn’t really believe it and I thought about it for a few minutes afterwards. When he was done with the interviews after the game, I went into the changing room with him and I was just standing there next to Aubameyang and the other BVB players.
DFB.de: What did you do after the game on Saturday evening?
Matt: We stayed at the stadium for a while and then later we went to a wine festival and then to a nightclub. We were there in our training kits and people were constantly coming up to us and asking for a photo or an autograph. Two days ago I got another really funny message.
DFB.de: What was the message?
Matt: Two girls from Bregenz and Bielefeld sent me a message to say they had started a fan page for me on Instagram. They asked me whether it was ok and if I could send them photos for the page. That was crazy. I mean, we play in the fifth division.
DFB.de: The media hype before the game was something that you weren’t used to at all, how did you deal with that?
Matt: It started about a week before the game. Thorsten Legat visited to kick it all off. He motivated us with an emotional but funny team talk in the dressing room and we had a small competition against him on the pitch. On the other hand, the interest is really cool but very stressful. It made me realise what professional footballers have to go through. That aspect of the attention is not as fun.
DFB.de: You’re of course still in the Verbandspokal, you are in the round of 16. You’re only four more victories away from qualifiying for the DFB-Pokal again.
Matt: Once you have experienced it once, you want to do whatever it takes to achieve it again. I can’t put into words what qualifiying for the cup again would mean to me. We couldn’t play BVB again though, Bayern would probably suffice. (laughs)
