Freiburg (AP) – National soccer player Matthias Ginter would like to end his career at his youth club SC Freiburg. “That was always a bit of my goal, that hasn’t changed,” said the 28-year-old in an interview with the specialist magazine “Kicker” (Monday). You should never say never in football, “but I hope that it works well for both sides that I don’t have to change anymore”.
Ginter returned to his native city of Freiburg from Borussia Mönchengladbach after last season, where he had already played for SC from 2005 to 2014. National coach Hansi Flick also supported the change of the 2014 world champion. “He congratulated me directly, he has known and appreciated Christian Streich for years,” Ginter reported of a conversation with Flick about the Freiburg coach. “His opinion was important to me, so it was nice to know that he approved of this move.”
The defender hopes to get into the squad for the World Cup in Qatar at the end of the year if he performs well. He had completed the last of his 46 international matches on November 14 last year in a 4-1 win in Armenia in the World Cup qualifier.
Ginter looks self-critically at the end of his five-year spell in Mönchengladbach. “I didn’t manage to stay with myself and do my thing,” he said. He let “sideshows that felt like they were happening in the background every week, what they did and wanted to do with me” too close to himself. He felt very connected to the club and it is “still close to his heart”.
Despite the “unpleasant sides of professional business” that he got to know, Ginter is forgiving: “I’m incredibly happy to have played for this big traditional club for so long.” Ginter came to Gladbach from Borussia Dortmund in 2017.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220626-99-809562/2
–
