Niklas Süle: “I can perform if I’m needed”

After almost 10 months out with an ACL injury suffered against Augsburg in October, Niklas Süle is back. The 24-year-old centre-back has been with his teammates again at the club’s training camp in Lagos. Talking to fcbayern.com, Süle spoke about his comeback and the Champions League finals tournament in Lisbon, which kicks off for Bayern with a quarter-final against Barcelona on Friday.

Interview with Niklas Süle

What are your impressions after the first days of the training camp and how have the sessions gone?
“We have ideal conditions here. We’re training well, once a day, and apart from that we actually have quite a lot of things here to keep us busy. But the closer the Barcelona game comes, the less that plays a role. Our thoughts are on Friday’s game and wanting to progress to the next round. We’re all really looking forward to that.“

How far are you in the preparations for Barcelona?
“We’ve obviously analysed the game against Chelsea and looked at situations where we could’ve done better or where something worked really well. I think that we put in a good performance but also that we should concentrate on ourselves more, because we just have this team spirit, this ability to match any opposition, and therefore we should focus on ourselves a lot more than the opposition we’re playing. But we’ll watch a lot of clips of Barcelona so we’re still well prepared for the opposition.”

What makes you positive you’ll get past Barcelona?
“I think we have a unique team spirit. It’s something – I’m going into my fourth season at Bayern now – that I’ve not experienced before, the way we interact among and with each other. It’s always been special here but really, the team spirit we’ve had this year has been exceptionally good and as well as that, we have a lot of players who can make the difference at this level. It’s incredibly difficult to win this Champions League title – but I think we have the opportunity, with our squad, to achieve something special this year.”

There was the wonderful moment against Chelsea for you and the fans when you returned to competitive action. How was that for you?
“It obviously felt fantastic for me to have already played my first game in nine and a half months against Marseille the week before. To then make my competitive comeback in a Champions League game was obviously a very special moment for me after nearly 10 months. I was glad to get some minutes under my belt for the three games that we hopefully have left here, which is extremely important for me.”

How’s your fitness after such a long enforced break?
“I think my fitness level is very, very good. Of course, I still need to get more match sharpness, but we often play 11-a-side in training or smaller forms of matches. So, I believe I’m already capable of performing here if I’m needed.”

Read more about Süle’s comeback against Chelsea here: