"I'm grateful to Lyon to this day"

TSG play against your former club, Olympique Lyon, on matchday three of the UEFA Champions League. What do you personally associate with today's opponent?

 "I have a very strong connection to Olympique because it was the most important club in my education as a footballer. I learned a lot there, and I'm grateful to Lyon to this day. It will always remain a very special club to me. Olympique gave me the opportunity to discover the world of the professional footballer."

Do you still have contact with Lyon and Olympique?

"I still have friends there. Some of the players who I played together with back then have also gone to other clubs, of course. But I basically know almost every member of the staff at the club, especially the physiotherapists."

What is your assessment of Lyon this season? What can you expect in the home match?

"Lyon actually has a strong team every season, and that's true this year too. They have a number of international players and they showed what they're capable of with their away victory over Manchester City. To win away at the reigning English champions is, of course, a huge achievement. But every team, including Lyon, has weaknesses. Our coaches will prepare us well, in that they will highlight their weaknesses to us so that we can exploit them. The match won't be easy, and not just because Olympique is a very important club in my life. I hope that we at TSG will be able to get a good result."

What marks the club out, and how is it regarded in France?

"Lyon is one of the big three clubs in France, and not only at the professional level, but also with regard to training and youth development. The team is strengthened each year with products from its own academy. And it is one of the best academies in the country that won the World Cup this year. It has been a distinguishing feature of Lyon for years that it produces good players."

You passed through that system yourself, training with the Olympique senior squad at the age of 17 and playing with players such as Alexandre Lacazette, Michel Bastos and Hugo Lloris. What memories do you have from that time?

"It was a fantastic experience that I had with them and other top players. Many of those players have since been contracted by big-name clubs since. I came to a top-level team as a very young player, and got the opportunity to play nonetheless. I made my first appearance for the senior team in the French league at the age of 17. I was the youngest player in the squad and got a first-class football education thanks to being able to train with world class players."

You made your debut in the UEFA Champions League against Ajax Amsterdam and Real Madrid in 2011. How was it for you back then, and what does it mean to you to be participating in Europe's premier club competition again?

"I was 19 years old when I first played in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, first against Amsterdam, then against Real. I have to admit that it only really dawned on me a few years later what it means for such a young man to have already played in the greatest club competition in the world. I only played a couple of minutes, but I have fantastic memories of it, especially because I gained this experience with the club where I developed into a player."

You have now returned to playing in the UEFA Champions League with TSG. Your goal against Manchester City at the end of September to put TSG 1-0 up was a very emotional moment. How did you experience it?

"It was something incredible, of course. I was really happy and it lent me wings, but because it came early on in the game, I had to remain very concentrated. The final result should have been different, though, and a draw would have been fair. Now we need to catch up on points."

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