On the spot | 08.05.2009
On the spot: Vedad Ibisevic
DW: Do you remember the moment you tore your cruciate ligament?
Vedad Ibisevic: Yes. I felt right away that something had ripped, and I felt a lot of pain. But just a few seconds later it was gone again. Of course the shock is still in my mind, and the fear I felt. But back then I thought about staying on the pitch, because the pain went away again.
Ibisevic and Hoffenheim took the Bundesliga by storm early in the season. A year ago, with Hoffenheim still in the second division, Ibisevic was on the bench. In his first Bundesliga season he scored 18 goals in 17 matches.
You’ve often been compared with the legendary Bayern striker Gerd Müller. What do you think of that?
I can't understand it, Gerd Müller is a legend, he scored lots and lots of goals. The figures I've heard are big, and frightening. You can't even think about matching them. But of course it's great and I'm proud that people compare me with someone like him.
It's been reported that top European sides have made offers for you. Now that Hoffenheim have slipped so badly have you ever asked yourself why you didn't sign for Inter Milan or Manchester United?
Sure. I've read and heard that. Of course I'd be proud if these clubs were interested.
You spent your childhood in the former Yugoslavia during the wars. Was it possible to have a kick about on the streets with your friends?
Sure, absolutely. I always played football. And I always had friends I could play football with. It doesn't matter if it was dangerous with a war going on. As a child you always try to enjoy yourself.
How dangerous was it?
Sometimes we’d be playing on the street, which was not very far away from home, and you could hear a barrage and then we had to go home. Take a break. After that we could start playing again.
So you heard shelling and had to go home?
Yes, that was normal. That's how things were.
Fifteen years after he was kicking a ball around the streets of Tuzla, he's fighting to make his Bundesliga come back. The results since the restart of the Bundesliga show how valuable he is for Hoffenheim. They’ve won only one match without him. The best team of the first half of the season has become the worst of the second.
After promotion you finished top of the table at Christmas. How do you explain the crash?
It's just as hard to explain as the fantastic first half of the season. I expected it, I think it's normal that a young team which has just come up from the second division has a weak period and doesn't win. But that we have become as bad as we are now...I didn't expect that.
Your injury means you've watched from the sidelines as the team has crashed from one low to the next. You could have qualified for Europe. Doesn't that make you crazy?
I knew right from the beginning that it was going to be hard for me over the coming months. All I could do was watch. It was really hard watching the matches and knowing that there was nothing I could do.
If Hoffenheim had played the entire season like they have since Christmas, you'd get relegated.
I think it's really important that our team has seen what works and what doesn't work. The important thing is that we take the experience we have gained with us next into season. I don't think any of us wants to keep on playing the way he have in the second half of the season.
We wish you all the best...
Thank you!
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