Borussia Dortmund entered Wednesday’s Group F Champions League clash with Club Brugge, who beat Zenit St. Petersburg at home but needed to win after the opening day’s loss to Lazio in Italy.
Although he may not play for the Germans in Belgium mid-week due to injury, Mats Hummels returns to Westfalenstadion for a full-time moment, this time as an experienced figure in a largely young and dynamic team.
“My role is simple to define,” Hummels told CBS Sports in an exclusive interview. “First predict by example. Every day in the field, I look at painting hard every day in education and, of course, I communicate with my teammates on and off the field. “
The 31-year-old scored Revierderby’s third and final purpose against Schalke with a heroic double against Arminia Bielefeld last week and ended with three purposes in two Bundesliga outings, injured at the end of the last game.
Despite the backhand, Hummels used his moment of appearance with Dortmund and the importance of set an example for his young teammates.
“I’m looking to do as productive as possible with my peers,” he said. “I hope in a smart way to the companions, to succeed at this level.
“However, the most thing is that you have to paint hard, you have to be a role-playing style for workouts, for games because if you don’t paint hard yourself, you can’t tell others to do it of course. “
Hummels, who made his call with Dortmund as a member of Jurgen Klopp’s outstanding 2010-12 German champions and enjoyed a wonderful good fortune with Bayern Munich and the 2014 World Cup champions Germany, is now surrounded by exciting talents such as Erling Haaland, Gio Reyna and Jadon Sancho. .
Bergisch Gladbach’s boy was inspired by the formidable trio and is convinced that the Norwegian foreigner can achieve his prolific initial form.
“Amazing scorer and hard painter, ” said Hummels on Haaland. “I think it’s something other people don’t know because they only see the paintings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
“They just see him in the field, but the paintings make him so smart because he paints on himself. He knows what he can do, what his strengths are, but he also knows his weaknesses and describes them.
“I am one hundred percent convinced that Erling will be one of the top scorers of the next 15 years, no doubt. “
Hummels also played alongside current Bayern player Robert Lewandowski in Dortmund and Munich and ranks the Polish star as the current figure in world football, but praises Haaland’s efforts towards him.
“Lewy is the most productive player in the world last year,” Hummels said. “I don’t know if Erling can reach it, it’s based on his state of health, but I think if he’s already compared to Lewy, he shows how smart he is because for me Lewy is the most productive worldwide for the last 365 days. “
Alongside the new golden boy of Football Reyna, who summoned usMNT’s November friendly against Wales, Hummels praised the Sunderland-born and New York-raised phenomenon with a brilliant long career for the club and country.
“Great, wonderful young player, ” he said. I don’t think there’s a roof for him, there are no limits, it’s up to him how smart he’s going to be.
“Gio is developing at an incredible rate. When he came here to see us in January, it was like “Oh, yes, a talented guy, ” but of course still a little green ears, as they say.
“Learn very quickly, get better every week, and if you help keep running like this and help keep playing the way you do and improve, we and I think the US national team is not going to be able to do that. But it’s not the first time He’ll have a very smart player for a long time. “
In addition to Haaland and Reyna, Hummels accompanies Sancho, and the veteran veteran is convinced that the foreigner from England has what it takes to be among the world.
“I think it’s the same, almost the same thing, as I said about Gio and Erling,” Ambassador Common Goal said. “Incredibly talented of course. He’s got things in his game that you don’t see in a lot of players in the world. “.
“His opposition on purpose, as he did with Schalke, is almost perfect. The moment he plays passes, the pace with which he plays passes. He is very calm in the face of purpose when he scores himself or when he sees others. players. Of course. ” , very smart in dribbling.
“If you can show it every day, you can be one of the most productive players in the world and it’s up to him because he doesn’t lack many of the qualities you want for that. “
Hummels hopes Dortmund can return to Germany from Jan Breydel Stadium with Haaland, Reyna and Sancho having done the task of the three numbers in the first leg of this Champions League title. You can attend all Champions League matches at CBS All Access.
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Getty images and U. S. Presswire imagesBut it’s not the first time