By Raphael Honigstein
from espnfc.com
Bayern Munich star David Alaba confident leading Austria at Euro 2016
How does the pressure of playing for Bayern Munich, a club that has to win every trophy every season, compare with that of being the star man for Austria at the Euros? David Alaba pondered the question.
"It's not easy to answer that," the 23-year-old told ESPN FC. "At Bayern, the bar is set very high, and we all know how to deal with it. We live with that amount of pressure every day, otherwise we wouldn't be able to maintain our level of performances. Playing for the national team, you are aware that a whole country wants you to succeed, but you mustn't get side-tracked.
"This set of players has qualified for their first tournament. We don't have to downplay our qualities. But making it to France was only the beginning. I'm sure we can handle the expectations."
Whether there will be similar cool-headedness at home -- in a land that played a pivotal role in shaping the game on the continent before the Second World War but has been completely starved of international football success of late -- is another matter.
"Everybody will go completely nuts if we won our first game against Hungary," Alaba said with a smile. "And so they should! We want to see the country getting euphoric. But we can only make that happen by keeping our focus on the first match and thinking small. The aim is to start on a positive note and then keep on going."
The five-time Austrian Player of the Year and most popular sports personality in the alpine nation doesn't come across as someone who might be overburdened by the responsibility of being the team's playmaker and chief goal-scoring threat (four goals in qualifying) from midfield. In fact, he seems to relish it. If it were up to him, he would play centrally at club level too.
"I've said it a few times over the years that I'm very happy in midfield," he said confidently. "My club knows that."
Ever since Louis van Gaal gave him his Bundesliga debut at Bayern as a full-back in March 2010 at the age of 17, a succession of coaches at the Allianz Arena have predominantly used the incredibly versatile player in a wide defensive position. (He moonlighted as a centre-back under Pep Guardiola in the season past also played a de facto midfield whenever the Catalan coach asked his full-backs to move high up the pitch, narrowly). There were whispers that more time in the middle of the park was one of the conditions he set for renewing his contract until 2021.
Not true, Alaba said.
"We did talk about that, but this one was really about other things," he said. "I'm 23 now. First of all, I thought very carefully about where I saw myself play over the next few years. Then I made a clear decision that it would be at FC Bayern. I'm grateful to be here. They're one of the best clubs in the world."
Munich has become like "a second home" to him, he added -- "a small version" of his home town, Vienna, only a few hours from the Austrian capital and quite similar in terms of lifestyle.
"They understand my dialect here, Bavarian is not too different," he said. "As for playing in midfield, we'll see what happens over the next few years."
He hasn't had a chance to inquire about incoming Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti's thoughts on the matter.
The German champions weren't able to win the Champions League under Guardiola -- "Football isn't always fair, especially at this level ... you can be the better team and still lose," Alaba said of the team's semifinal exit against Atletico -- but the son of a Nigerian father and mother from the Philippines has no doubt that the Pep years have seen significant collective and individual improvement.
"He has developed us further," Alaba said. "He taught us many news things, made us better."
The Austrian was one of main beneficiaries of Guardiola's tactical flexibility, as he changed effortlessly between roles during matches. "I've yet to understand what position Alaba played tonight," a puzzled Paolo Rossi said in an Italian TV studio after Bayern's 7-1 destruction of AS Roma in the Italian capital in 2014.
For Austria, Alaba is needed at the very heart of proceedings. For all the considerable talent in the squad, there isn't anyone as complete as him, no peer able to combine strong athleticism with defensive know-how and creativity. He takes very good free kicks, too, and spends hours every week fine-tuning a technique inspired by David Beckham, Juninho and Didier Drogba. Alaba started practising free kicks when he was a 15-year-old at (the Vienna-based club) Austria and was an admirer of Patrick Vieira.
"There are days when I think I don't have it," he admitted. But he does have it. So much so, in fact, that his importance for Austria might well go beyond the game.
His father, George, is a DJ and served in the Austrian army, and Alaba Jr, who could have played for Germany but told kicker magazine that "was never an option for me," represents a successful immigration story in a country that sometimes struggles to embrace diversity.
Last month, Austria nearly voted in a presidential candidate from the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO). Two years ago, an FPO politician resigned after a magazine he published called Alaba "raven-black."
The player is wary of commenting directly on politics ("It's not really my thing") but talks movingly about a visit to a refugee camp that left little doubt about his feelings.
"I'm aware that I'm a role model as a footballer, so I went to the camp and brought them some shoes," he said. "I had fun with some of the kids. I'm trying my best."
His best on the pitch could be enough to help Austria to their best tournament since a third-place finish at the 1954 World Cup. It might promote more tolerance as a result, even if Alaba refuses to think in those terms.
"I just want the Euros to start," he said. "We all can't wait."
from espnfc.com
Bayern Munich star David Alaba confident leading Austria at Euro 2016
How does the pressure of playing for Bayern Munich, a club that has to win every trophy every season, compare with that of being the star man for Austria at the Euros? David Alaba pondered the question.
"It's not easy to answer that," the 23-year-old told ESPN FC. "At Bayern, the bar is set very high, and we all know how to deal with it. We live with that amount of pressure every day, otherwise we wouldn't be able to maintain our level of performances. Playing for the national team, you are aware that a whole country wants you to succeed, but you mustn't get side-tracked.
"This set of players has qualified for their first tournament. We don't have to downplay our qualities. But making it to France was only the beginning. I'm sure we can handle the expectations."
Whether there will be similar cool-headedness at home -- in a land that played a pivotal role in shaping the game on the continent before the Second World War but has been completely starved of international football success of late -- is another matter.
"Everybody will go completely nuts if we won our first game against Hungary," Alaba said with a smile. "And so they should! We want to see the country getting euphoric. But we can only make that happen by keeping our focus on the first match and thinking small. The aim is to start on a positive note and then keep on going."
The five-time Austrian Player of the Year and most popular sports personality in the alpine nation doesn't come across as someone who might be overburdened by the responsibility of being the team's playmaker and chief goal-scoring threat (four goals in qualifying) from midfield. In fact, he seems to relish it. If it were up to him, he would play centrally at club level too.
"I've said it a few times over the years that I'm very happy in midfield," he said confidently. "My club knows that."
Ever since Louis van Gaal gave him his Bundesliga debut at Bayern as a full-back in March 2010 at the age of 17, a succession of coaches at the Allianz Arena have predominantly used the incredibly versatile player in a wide defensive position. (He moonlighted as a centre-back under Pep Guardiola in the season past also played a de facto midfield whenever the Catalan coach asked his full-backs to move high up the pitch, narrowly). There were whispers that more time in the middle of the park was one of the conditions he set for renewing his contract until 2021.
Not true, Alaba said.
"We did talk about that, but this one was really about other things," he said. "I'm 23 now. First of all, I thought very carefully about where I saw myself play over the next few years. Then I made a clear decision that it would be at FC Bayern. I'm grateful to be here. They're one of the best clubs in the world."
Munich has become like "a second home" to him, he added -- "a small version" of his home town, Vienna, only a few hours from the Austrian capital and quite similar in terms of lifestyle.
"They understand my dialect here, Bavarian is not too different," he said. "As for playing in midfield, we'll see what happens over the next few years."
He hasn't had a chance to inquire about incoming Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti's thoughts on the matter.
The German champions weren't able to win the Champions League under Guardiola -- "Football isn't always fair, especially at this level ... you can be the better team and still lose," Alaba said of the team's semifinal exit against Atletico -- but the son of a Nigerian father and mother from the Philippines has no doubt that the Pep years have seen significant collective and individual improvement.
"He has developed us further," Alaba said. "He taught us many news things, made us better."
The Austrian was one of main beneficiaries of Guardiola's tactical flexibility, as he changed effortlessly between roles during matches. "I've yet to understand what position Alaba played tonight," a puzzled Paolo Rossi said in an Italian TV studio after Bayern's 7-1 destruction of AS Roma in the Italian capital in 2014.
For Austria, Alaba is needed at the very heart of proceedings. For all the considerable talent in the squad, there isn't anyone as complete as him, no peer able to combine strong athleticism with defensive know-how and creativity. He takes very good free kicks, too, and spends hours every week fine-tuning a technique inspired by David Beckham, Juninho and Didier Drogba. Alaba started practising free kicks when he was a 15-year-old at (the Vienna-based club) Austria and was an admirer of Patrick Vieira.
"There are days when I think I don't have it," he admitted. But he does have it. So much so, in fact, that his importance for Austria might well go beyond the game.
His father, George, is a DJ and served in the Austrian army, and Alaba Jr, who could have played for Germany but told kicker magazine that "was never an option for me," represents a successful immigration story in a country that sometimes struggles to embrace diversity.
Last month, Austria nearly voted in a presidential candidate from the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO). Two years ago, an FPO politician resigned after a magazine he published called Alaba "raven-black."
The player is wary of commenting directly on politics ("It's not really my thing") but talks movingly about a visit to a refugee camp that left little doubt about his feelings.
"I'm aware that I'm a role model as a footballer, so I went to the camp and brought them some shoes," he said. "I had fun with some of the kids. I'm trying my best."
His best on the pitch could be enough to help Austria to their best tournament since a third-place finish at the 1954 World Cup. It might promote more tolerance as a result, even if Alaba refuses to think in those terms.
"I just want the Euros to start," he said. "We all can't wait."
