Konrad Laimer interview: 'The way I play football is also my approach to life'

Konrad Laimer says that when he plays football, he does so "with body and soul". His passion, his aggression, his energy can move trees – and win games. An interview about beautiful victories, painful defeats and big aims with FC Bayern.

The interview with Konrad Laimer

It's early evening when Konrad Laimer turns up for an interview at the team hotel. He has an 11-hour flight to Seoul for the Audi Summer, a training session and two interviews with Korean journalists behind him. He's about to go to a barbecue hosted by team-mate Minjae Kim as a welcome to his home country. And yet Laimer, 27, doesn't appear at all tired. A conversation about energy, passion and the carabiner on his keys.

'The EURO exit had an effect on the holiday'

Konrad, do you have your keys with you?
Konrad Laimer: "My keys? No. Why?"

Is the carabiner still on it?
"Ah right, no. It's at the front of my backpack. I have it on there so I can recognise it. I like to keep it, it's a nice memento."

Ralf Rangnick, the Austria coach, gifted every player from the European Championship a squad a carabiner for their key ring. It's supposed to symbolise team spirit, focusing on the tournament. What feelings do you associate with it now?
"Always good ones because I love playing for the national team. It's the greatest thing you can achieve as a player: representing your own country. When the carabiner appears in my rucksack in everyday life, I remember what our goal with Austria was – and still is. This journey is not over, it continues."

What feelings did you take away from this European Championship?
"I returned from the EURO with mixed feelings. First, it was great to win the group ahead of France and Netherlands. In the end, it was a painful elimination against Turkey in the round of 16. It hurt a lot, but that's how up and down football can be. It still had an effect on me for the first few days of the holiday, but it's over and now I'm fully focused on the new season and looking forward to football again."

How do you process such disappointments?
"I couldn't sleep well for the first few nights. Individual situations from the match kept going through my head, and then you ask yourself in the middle of the night: how come? Why? Sometimes I watch the games again to learn from the situations. You can't undo it, though. That's why the holiday was important to come down for a few days, clear the head, be with the family, and just lie somewhere and not think about football for a bit."

Is it possible to stop thinking about football when there's a European Championship on the TV?
"Okay, that's true – it's only possible sporadically. Initially I couldn't watch it much, it was too painful. When you see it and know that you were there, you just think: I could still be there. That hurts too much. Eventually it gets easier to watch, but it wasn't as enjoyable as at the start when we watched the other games together as a team."

After a long season with Bayern, you still seemed full of energy at the EURO. Where do you get this strength to play football "with body and soul", as you say?
"That's just my way of playing football. I think that's also my approach to life, the way I am as a person. For me there's nothing nicer than being a footballer, that fact alone gives me so much emotion and energy every day. And when there's a EURO after a long season, I couldn't imagine not having any energy left for a tournament like that. It's no different sitting here today. When I come back from holiday, I get such an urge to finally be back on the pitch again. I constantly want to develop as a player and be successful with the team."

Do you still have the urge in your legs after an 11-hour flight to Korea, or are they also tired to start with?
"Put it this way: there have certainly been days when I've had more energy in my legs. That kind of journey does take it out of you, but we had a very intensive training session before the flight, so I was able to sleep for six hours on the plane. That was necessary too. It kind of felt like there was no night because of the time difference, so it did us good to be quickly on the pitch again in Seoul to shake the tiredness out of the legs."

What's it like playing football in 35 degrees and over 80 percent humidity in Korea?
"Luckily it's also been pretty hot in Munich recently, so the contrast wasn't that big. But clearly, it's a different kind of heat here. That's no reason for us not to play football, though. We accept it as it is."

Vincent Kompany, the new coach, was an aggressive defensive player himself. What are you hoping from him for your personal development?
"He has a very clear idea of how we should play defensively and offensively. I'm absorbing that, as well as all his ideas for transitions. We're learning more with each training session and can take away an incredible amount from him. We've only had a few sessions, though. When we've internalised that more, I'll be even stronger too."

So is it a very positive impression of the new coach – or still too early to assess?
"No, it's certainly not. You immediately get a sense when someone enters a room, or when someone's speaking, standing with you on the training pitch, sitting in meetings. I already have a very good impression. I'm eager and excited to finally start playing again."

Has Vincent Kompany also given every player a carabiner?
"We've been together for too short a time for that, as a few players were still on holiday. But maybe that will come, who knows? Every coach does his own things..." 

'We all live for winning big games'

You also have your own things: your passion, your aggression on which your game is defined. Against Arsenal, for example, Thomas Müller said in awe that you hunted Martin Ødegaard "over the pitch like a dog". Where does Konrad Laimer get this aggression from?
"I think I've always been like that on the pitch. In those one-v-one situations, I'm desperate not to lose them – regardless of who or where on the pitch. This feeling is always there: I either don't want to lose the ball under any circumstances – or I want to win it at all costs. It's been like that for as long as I can remember."

Are you a bad loser?
"Yes, terribly bad. But I think all footballers are like that, otherwise we wouldn't be where we are. It should hurt, whether it's a game in training, a friendly or a competitive match. The feeling you get when you lose a big game is awful, nobody wants that. We all live for reaching the really big games, playing in them – and then also winning them. There's no better feeling!"

If I asked your wife, would she say that you're very different privately?
"No, she'd say that I can't lose. If we're playing cards or board games, I can be very tiring. But she's known me long enough to be able to deal with it."

How does that manifest itself? Do you knock over the board, throw the pieces around the room?
"No, it doesn't get that bad. I can talk well when I win – and, let's say, be very miffed when I lose."

'The aggressive leader has always interested me more than the magician'

You grew up at RB Salzburg. Back then, did you always prefer watching sliding tackles to brilliant goals and overhead kicks?
"I liked watching both. I didn't just want to see the sliding tackles. Footballers always love beautiful goals but the other side, which I identify with more, the aggressive leader, that's always interested me more than the magician and the artist."

Will that be one of the keys to success for FC Bayern this season: Konrad Laimer as the aggressive leader?
"I hope so, but first we have to keep analysing what we didn't do so well last season. Then we have to internalise the new coach's vision of football and execute it as a group. And then it's also about consistently producing the individual qualities that we as players offer. If we do that, I'm convinced that with the quality we have, we'll have a very successful season."

What role does the time in Korea and pre-season have in that?
"This period is immensely important. It's supposed to bring us to our highest possible level, so that we can consistently perform so dominantly that we can beat any opponent. Something has to grow now for that to happen, and then the path can lead to great things."