Even when I was growing up as a young boy, when I was playing schoolboy football, there were other guys who were as good as I was, maybe some even better technically. But I was prepared to stick to what was going to make me become a professional football player when I left school, and that was a lot of sacrifice and because my attitude was right.

I've watched parents sometimes on the touchlines at youth games, and they are screaming and shouting, which is not the way to go.

When you talk about professional footballers, rightly or wrongly, people often already have an idea in their head about what they're like; they'll paint a picture before they've met them.

Since I was five or six years old, I just wanted to be a professional football player. I wanted to play against the best players. I wanted to play in big stadiums in front of big crowds, and I was desperate to play for my country one day, and thankfully, I was lucky enough that happened.

It's just something I've always loved to do: talk basketball. It's easy for me to give my perspective, my analyst approach to it, because even when I played, I would watch film, talk about the game.

I want to contribute to sport and the community in a positive way.

In the German football team players from different clubs need to get on with each other both on and off the pitch. In the grand coalition Christian Democrats and Social Democrats sit in the same boat and need to pull in the same direction.

It's always tough to get back into football shape.