Mario Gotze gave an interesting post match interview on German TV after Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid 1-0 in the Audi Cup on Wednesday.
Gotze, who scored Germany’s World Cup winning goal in 2014, is often viewed as being on the fringes of Pep Guardiola’s team, and in recent days rumours swirled around that the attacking midfielder doesn’t speak to his manager.
That rumour sprung up after Gotze was asked to predict whether Guardiola would talk more to him this season.
After beating Madrid, Gotze tried to clear up the story in his post game interview.
A translation of the conversation is below:
Reporter: So, now we have Mario Götze standing next to me, first of all congratulations for winning the Audi Cup 2015 – yes, it’s a pre-season game, but how significant is this win nonetheless for you and for the club?
Götze: I think it’s really significant, it has been the last practice match before the first DFB-Pokal match – a great test against a great team. I think we earned the win, I think this was really important for us.
Reporter: There has been a lot of writing about you lately, you’ve got two new teammates, there is big competition going on, on your position now, what do you think will be your position this year at the club?
Götze: Yes, for sure, we got some really good players. I’m really happy here and speaking for me, I’m happy to be able to play here – with the fans, with the club – I think it’s a nice challenge and yes, I’m very happy with my surrounding and with the things happening here, but like already mentioned, there are always two sides of a coin.
Reporter: Ok, I’ll have to ask about it, because the media cited you saying: “It will work out if Guardiola talks to me more often.” The converse argument: Pep Guardiola tends to speak too little with you?
Götze: That’s not right. I want to get that clear.
I was explicitly asked, whether the coach will speak to me more often, and I neutrally responded in an objective manner, that we’re gonna see if he’s gonna speak to me more often. It had no relevance, it wasn’t a statement, no message to the coach and I think for the future I don’t want the journalists to pick certain phrases of my response, but rather also pick up the questions which are being asked.
I think this is pretty common nowadays. I want to make clear that I did not criticise anyone and this will never happen, especially not in the public.
Reporter: Ok, so now we’ve cleared this up for you, thank you very much.
Götze: Thanks, thanks.Robert Lewandowski scored the only goal as Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid in a pre-season encounter at the Allianz Arena
Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid 2015
Robert Lewandowski Goal Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid 2015