Midweek Interviews 02.02.2021 – 2020/21
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MIDWEEK INTERVIEWS Season 2020/2021 02.02.2021 – 2020/21 Kevin Trapp / Eintracht Frankfurt Interview: Kevin Trapp What are you expecting from the game at Hoffenheim? “Hoffenheim are a great team. They had some difficult moments because of having a lot of injured players but they are slowly coming back. They are on a winning streak right now; they didn’t concede any goals in the last few games. It’s going to be a tough game away, but we also have a lot of confidence. We are going there and want to win, that’s our goal. We can expect a very difficult game.” What’s behind Eintracht’s improvement in the last few weeks? “We don’t need to hide from anyone, that’s for sure. We gained, especially in the last few matches, a lot of confidence, because of the results but also because of the way we are playing right now. We have a lot of confidence. We had some bad luck in games when we drew too in many games we had to win. Since the game in Augsburg where we played very convincingly, we have a lot of confidence. We stay very concentrated for 90 minutes and it’s very tough to play against us. That’s why I say if we continue playing like this, it’s very difficult to beat us. Normally, against whoever we play, it always depends on us how the result’s going to be. If we are at 100%, we are able to beat anyone.” Playing catch-up in the Bundesliga – what’s your aim, the Europa League or the Champions League? “It’s not long ago that we were in ninth or tenth place and we were hoping to get some points to stay close to the other teams, the top six teams. We should be very careful what we say but of course, if we continue like this… we all experienced what happened here a few years ago, two or three years ago, and we would all be very happy to experience that again. We still have a very long way ahead. That’s why I said that it all depends on us. If we are playing well, we can beat anyone. If that happens, everyone knows what’s going to happen, but until then we have a lot of work to do.” 04.02.2021 DFLDS_Midweek_Interviews_2020/21 1 MIDWEEK INTERVIEWS Season 2020/2021 What do you make of Jovic’s return? “I was already talking to him in summer, asking about his situation and how it was all going. He wasn’t really happy; everybody could see that. At the end of December, I asked him again what was going on, what the situation was and if he wanted to come back. Surprisingly, he told me ‘yeah, I want to come back.’ I think Fredi and everyone responsible did a great job to bring him back to have him in our team again. Three games three goals, that speaks for itself. He’s a great addition to our team because he has this great quality, he doesn’t need many chances to score and that’s very important. Now with André Silva next to him, our strikers are especially strong. With Amin Younes, Daichi Kamada, Aymen Barkok. Behind we have a lot of quality, so that’s why I say with Luka and Amin Younes we have two very important players now. Ragnar Ache is going to come back, so were almost all back and that’s very important for us to reach our goals.” Will there be a magic trio at Eintracht: Jovic, Kostic and who was the third? “If you see the way we are playing right now it’s very difficult to pick someone. Luka is great, André already has 14 goals in 18 games, Amin Younes has scored some very important goals already, he’s making a difference in the number 10 role. Daichi Kamada has already played a lot of important games for us. Filip has confidence again with Luka coming back. This, in attack, is very important for us. I don’t want to single out three names, just to point at them. Even behind now, Tuta hasn’t played very much, he came in and played great. The whole team is doing very well now and we’re going to continue like this.” Is Martin Hinteregger the new defensive leader now that Abrahams has left? “If you play in these positions, you have to have this attitude of a leader and of a boss. Me, in goal, Hinti as a defensive player, Hasebe, Djibril Sow, no matter who it is, we all need this attitude to lead and to bring something to the team. We only function as a team, that’s why I don’t want to single out any players because we only function as a team. If this doesn’t happen, we’re not going to achieve anything. Of course, Hinti is one of these players, Makoto who is now the captain from the beginning of the games, me, and several others who I mentioned already. There are 04.02.2021 DFLDS_Midweek_Interviews_2020/21 2 MIDWEEK INTERVIEWS Season 2020/2021 many who can do that and, in the end, it’s going to be the coach who decides.” Who has influenced you as a goalkeeper? “It’s no secret that Gerry Ehrmann was and still is a great mentor of mine, he was there when I made my first steps in the professional soccer business, talked to me a lot, he formed me into the goalkeeper I am today. On the way here though, I had many different goalkeeper coaches, ways of training, of improving. It’s difficult single out one name who is responsible for all of it, but everything started with Gerry in the professional business. Of course, in the clubs I came from, they shaped me as a goalkeeper, they put me in this position but starting my career as a professional player it was Gerry. Then of course, I came to Frankfurt with Moppes [Manfred Petz], he had a different way to train, different way of acting, of talking to me. What was also very important to me was going to Paris, I think. I grew my personality a lot. New languages, world-class players, you have to impose yourself with your character, your personality, not only your quality on the pitch. Now coming back to Frankfurt, I have a goalkeeper coach in Jan Zimmerman. Everybody calls him a nerd because he is a crazy guy, he has all the statistics, he analyses everything, he does so much great work trying to improve me, and I feel great since I’ve been training with him. He’s very detail focused. Sometimes we are both too ambitious, we want too much too fast but he’s a great guy. All-in-all in every path I’ve been on, everybody could give me something to improve on and to make me the person I am now.” Who discovered you as a goalkeeper? “The very first training session, I started outfield as a striker – if you can even call it that! After training, I went to the coach and asked if I could go in goal because I don’t like running and he said yes. Our goalkeeper was injured so we can try it. There were many coaches in my youth who told me you can achieve something very special but at that young age you never know what’s going to happen, you never know if you’re going to make it or not. Especially when we were playing with SV Mettlach in the youth Bundesliga, you could see that they really supported me and pushed me. They were very happy, many coaches were very happy when I made the step, even if I gave it a push myself to make it happen, they were always supportive. They were always behind me and had my back to take the steps when I was young.” How was it at PSG with all of their superstars? 04.02.2021 DFLDS_Midweek_Interviews_2020/21 3 MIDWEEK INTERVIEWS Season 2020/2021 “I saw Zlatan at the airport when we flew to New York and I thought ‘wow, now you have Zlatan Ibrahimović there, walking through the door, he’s almost too tall to get through the door!’ It was impressive. In January before I left Frankfurt, I was playing on the PlayStation with these players and I was watching PSG against Barcelona in the Champions League and I thought ‘wow, two incredible teams playing in Paris, must be great.’ But I never thought about going there or whatever. When the call came in the summer, then it was going to be real. When I got there, of course, not many people spoke English, it wasn’t easy to communicate. I was 25, shy, and didn’t speak much, I wasn’t sure how to open myself up and make the first steps towards them. It was difficult but it was a great experience, of course. Playing with them, you improve every day, you improve every day in training, off the pitch, on the pitch, it was fantastic.” Tell us about your lovely fiancée Izabel Goulart. “What can I say? Of course, I look at her and say to myself, ‘I’m a lucky guy.’ Even after six years it’s still the same feeling, I guess that’s something very positive because after six years many people say it’s not the same anymore.