World Cup winner Mesut Özil picked up his first major title back in 2009, when he was a part of the SV Werder Bremen side that beat Bayer Leverkusen to claim that year’s DFB-Pokal trophy. This year’s competition will see the two sides meet again, but this time in the quarterfinals (Tuesday, 20:45 CET). In an interview with DFB.de, Özil looks back on that day in Berlin and explains what it felt like to have got the winner.
DFB.de: What memories have stuck with you from that DFB-Pokal final in 2009?
Mesut Özil: It’s one of those games that I probably won’t ever forget. Winning the cup was the biggest achievement of my career to that point, and to cap it all off, I scored the winning goal.
DFB.de: Would you put that goal up there as one of the most important you’ve scored in your career?
Özil: Thanks to that goal, I won my first ever title. I haven’t won the DFB-Pokal again since that point either, so for those reasons, I’d say it has to be up there. However, when I look at back at that day, I mainly think of that extraordinary team that I had a chance to be a part of. I looked up to players like Diego, Claudio Pizarro or even Frank Baumann and Torsten Frings so much back then. I’m very proud to be able to say that I won the cup with those guys.
DFB.de: After the final, you were seen as Diego’s natural successor once he left Werder in the summer of that year. You were only 20-years-old back then - a fitting title?
Özil: It was an unbelievable honour to have even been associated with Diego back then. At that time, he was one of the best players in the Bundesliga. At the age of 20, it was a huge challenge to try and fill his shoes. But you can’t just replace a player like Diego with one player. We tried to deal with the loss by coming together as a team, and I just played my part in that.
DFB.de: Three months ahead of the final, you made your debut for the national team. How important was winning the DFB-Pokal for your career - especially with the national team?
Özil: It’s hard to say. Even if we had narrowly lost that game, it would have been an experience that I could have drawn upon and used to build myself as a player. So I wouldn’t say that the victory has had that sort of effect on my career. I felt comfortable in the national side since the very beginning and settled in quickly. It’s a special feeling every time I get selected in the squad. That hasn’t changed to this day.
DFB.de: You made it to the final with Werder again a year later. What is the DFB-Pokal all about to you?
Özil: My memories of that game are not as fond. But that’s what the DFB-Pokal is about. It is predicated on emotion. In 2009 we won it all, but a year later our hearts were broken. You have to learn from experiences like that though.
DFB.de: Do you still follow the competition when you’re in London?
Özil: If I can then I’ll definitely try and watch the games. But as people well know, we have a lot of games in England to be preparing for (laughs). I do catch up with all the results at least, and I like to see how my ex-teams are doing, as well as my teammates from the national squad.