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Germany defender Jerome Boateng was on the wrong side on one of the most popular footballing incidents of last season. Lionel Messi’s dribble past the Bayern Munich man which left him on the floor took the world by storm and as usual the internet made its memes – many of which are imprinted in people’s minds.
While the world laughed at him, Boateng says he laughed too when he looked back at the moment.
He said: “That doesn't really affect me.
“I was laughing at myself. When you fall down or slip in a situation and somebody scores a goal, it's normal. These things happen; it happens to me, it happens to other players, I don't care about these things.
“For me, he's the best player in the world. That's football. Sometimes you look bad or something happens. I'm a defender, that doesn't kill me or anything.”
The 26-year-old acknowledged that the loss to Barcelona was a bad one but he has learned to put such things past him and move on to try and win more. He put it down the nature of football that sometimes you win and other times you lose but “that’s life”.
He also refused to blame the absence of big names such as Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and David Alaba. He likened missing them to playing a Barcelona devoid of Leo Messi, Neymar and Andres Iniesta. However, according to Boateng, Bayern tried their best but lost to the team that was better over the two legs.
Pep Guardiola and Jupp Heynckes
On the suggestions that Guardiola has underachieved at Bayern Munich, Boateng said it was “bull***”. He said they were not the only ones to go through such an experience - similar things have happened to other clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Chelsea.
He added: “You must see every year, last six or seven years we've been in the Champions League semis every year, his first season we won the Super Cup, Club World Cup, so we won a lot of titles under Pep and now the second time the Bundesliga and everybody's like 'oh yes, that's normal,' but it's not normal at all in how it works. Under Pep Guardiola, it's hard work.
“For me, [Guardiola] is one of the best coaches I've ever met. He's super clever and tactically really good, and he knows how to speak to us, how to motivate us and that's what it is like. He's a really great coach and I'm really happy I can train under him.”
Boateng also spoke about the similarities and differences between Guardiola and his predecessor at Bayern Munich, Jupp Heynckes.
He said: “Everybody has a different idea of the game, and between Jupp Heynckes, both really trained a lot with the ball. What is good for the team, you see it, we have a lot of possession in the games, like when we play games in the Bundesliga or Champions League, we always want the ball.
“We put high pressure on the teams, so that's something that's a little different from Guardiola to Heynckes. With Heynckes, we don't press so high and had kind of a little bit different idea of the game.”
On winning the World Cup with Germany
The man who beat him in a Barcelona jersey was on the other side when a year ago Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in the World Cup final to claim all the glory. He spoke about his experience after the World Cup when people would come up to him and thank him for winning the World Cup.
“It's always, like, people remind me of it,” Boateng said.
“I don't think about it so much, but when you meet people, especially in Germany, it was crazy. You meet somebody on a bus or something and they say, 'Thank you for the World Cup, it was so good to see,' and stuff like this, it's funny.”
He also shared his experience on the pitch when Mario Gotze’s winner went in.
He said: “I was close to the midline maybe and hoping something would happen before penalties and I remember that moment.
“All the pain from my leg was away and I ran to the front to Mario and of course, it was totally emotional. Totally emotional feeling after the referee's whistle; it was the best feeling ever, of course.
“To get the title for your home country in another country like Brazil, the home of football, it was amazing.”
