Berlin (AP) – For Jérôme Boateng, the national team chapter is not yet completely closed.
“I haven’t checked off the national team. I’m still in good contact with Hansi, we’re in exchange. Anything is possible in our sport. Hansi knows my qualities,” said the 2014 soccer world champion in an interview with “Welt am Sonntag”. But a lot has to fit for an invitation. “We have a lot of good defenders in the national team who play in the Champions League with their clubs,” said Boateng, who wants to get well after his pubic bone problems and show consistently good performances at his club Olympique Lyon.
Since this year in Ligue 1
Boateng’s contract with FC Bayern Munich, with which he won more than 20 titles in his ten years, was not renewed. He has been playing in the French Ligue 1 since this season. Boateng, who absolutely wants to play in the Champions League again, still has a contract in Lyon until June 30, 2023. A return to the Bundesliga is currently not a concrete wish. “My dream is to win more titles. It doesn’t matter in which country. Winning titles abroad is something very special,” said Boateng. He believes: “I still have a few years at the top level ahead of me.”
Defender with “Winning Attitude”
A few weeks ago there were rumors that the defender had become violent in training. That’s not true, rather there was a discussion between him and a teammate “about football and discipline”: “If I feel and see that the level in training is not right, then I address it clearly.”
Because from FC Bayern he is used to the fact that “you have to win every game and already have a winning attitude and discipline in training.” The fact that national player Niklas Süle is leaving Bayern (to Borussia Dortmund) after him after the coming season is “definitely a loss. You’re not used to a German national player leaving Bayern.”
The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine leaves the father “stunned. The fact that children and families die in the war in 2022 makes me very sad. The war is very close. I have friends who come from Ukraine and whose relatives live there. It something has to happen, the war has to stop. Everyone should try to help, and I do that too.”