Sami Khedira went a long way from the youth setups of the Bundesliga slot Stuttgart to the spotlights of such mercurial sides like Real Madrid and Juventus. Down the road, he even won the World Cup title with Germany in 2014.In an interview for ESPN, he recollected some of the memories from his playing days…How old were you when you looked at your team and said that guy out there is better than me?”Kevin Prince Boateng in the junior national team, at the U-15 level. He was better than everyone. So talented! I thought that guy had to be in the top five in the world. He could play in all positions. But you have to work. Young talent is just the beginning.”Khedira tackles Kevin Prince Boateng during the Ghana – Germany tie at the 2010 FIFA WC (© Stanley Chou/Getty Images)What happened after the World Cup in 2010?”After the loss to Spain, I was really upset. I was depressed and thinking that maybe playing against Spain was a step too far for Germany. Then I got a text from my brother. He told me: ‘Mourinho called you’. I said what?’. And he said, ‘Yeah, he wants you to be his 6.’Didn’t you believe Mourinho was going after you?”No, I was very young, and I didn’t believe it. But then I had a call with Jose, and he said: ‘Yes, you are an incredible player and an incredible guy, I want you to join me at Real Madrid.’ My agent then flew to Madrid. We had the talks, but it was only a minute or two. Jose said: ‘What are your expectations?’ I said I wanted to win. And he was like, ‘That’s great, I’ll see you in LA in two weeks’… and that was it!”Marcelo, Diarra and Khedira with Mourinho (©REUTERS/Felix Ordonez)How was it at Real Madrid?”Going to Madrid was one of the best experiences of my life. Meeting Jose and working with him was great. He opened the door to the highest level of football. I still remember my first training session. It was at UCLA, he told me that our games last 90 minutes, so our training will be 90 minutes too and everything with the ball. I thought that was great as it would be easy compared to Germany, where we constantly run. But after the first session, I was dead. It was constant: 10 against 10, 6 against 6, without rest if the ball goes out. I was so tired, but happy because we always had the ball. You had to run, and you had to think. After that session, we got back on the bus, and he was just two rows ahead, and he texted me, ‘You’re an amazing player, check out my lineup for tomorrow. You will start tomorrow.’ I looked around after receiving the message and saw him looking at me and smiling. It was amazing and gave me a lot of confidence. He needed me to get the job done for the other geniuses in the field. I get goosebumps thinking about it.”FRI: 23.00: (4.20) ALAVES (3.30) SEVILLA (2.05)How was it playing against Barcelona? Were they really that good?”Even as a madridista, I can say that the Barcelona team of 2010 was one of the best teams in history. Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets never lost the ball. You can’t get the ball, but you have to find solutions, we had to anticipate. If you get the ball, they won’t be organized, so we immediately attack. We had 10 or 12 Clasicos and only lost two. So that was our tactic.”🗣️ Sami Khedira: “Even as a madridista, I can say that Barça 2010 is the best team I’ve ever seen.” pic.twitter.com/BqK8Uz88dm— Barça Worldwide (@BarcaWorldwide) March 2, 2022 Everything seemed to fall apart with Mourinho in the third season?”In the end, let’s say there were too many egos in the dressing room. The egos beat the locker room spirit, and the locker room was lost. Maybe it was normal after two intense years. We are talking about winning Clasicos, the Copa del Rey, La Liga, with a record of goals and points. The players got tired of it. In the third season, Dortmund eliminated us from the Champions League and finished second or third in LaLiga. People were tired of leadership.”Sami Khedira:”Cristiano at Juventus was more of a leader, a natural leader. He always pushed us to win, he’s so competitive. In training, everyone wants to beat Cristiano or if you were on his team, you wanted to help him win.”[ESPN] pic.twitter.com/STRd9NR4Pj— The CR7 Timeline. (@TimelineCR7) March 4, 2022 You worked with Cristiano at Madrid and at Juve…”I met two Cristianos, the first at Real Madrid, a little younger and perhaps a little more insecure and selfish. Not in a bad way, but he had to find his personality. He scored many, many goals and was fantastic, but he didn’t have that much influence on the team. Then my second experience with Cristiano, at Juventus, he came to the team and had that same selfishness that is selfish to score, but he was more of a leader, more of a natural leader. He always pushed us and knew he needed the support of his teammates to win trophies. Don’t get me wrong, he was always part of the team at Madrid, but at Juventus, he was a bit more mature. Always focused on the field, but a little more relaxed after having children. He’s so competitive… In training, everyone wanted to beat Cristiano or if you were on his team, you wanted to help Cristiano win”.
