“Of course, there are always moments when you would rather be on the pitch. That’s completely normal and will always be my goal. On the other hand, I try to support the team as best I can,” said Alaba on Saturday afternoon, where he spoke to the press from Austria and the surrounding area gathered in the media center for the first time during the ongoing European Championship.
Alaba is Austria’s “most decorated” footballer of all time, having won the Champions League four times, the German championship ten times and the Spanish championship twice. He has been a key player in the national team since his debut in 2009 and was keen to make his contribution off the field in his third finals.
You see him interacting a lot with players and coaches, but Austria’s star doesn’t put himself in the spotlight. Instead, he makes sure that the current brilliant mood continues.
“Want to lead the way and make a difference”
He can now bring his experience from the world of football to the table. “I am part of the coaching team, working intensively on the analysis and preparation for the games. The coach always calls me in and asks me for my opinion,” explained the 105-time international. Alaba has not yet acquired a taste for a coaching career.
“I don’t want to think about that at the moment. The focus is on my comeback,” stressed Alaba, who was obviously concerned about the question, but took a long time to answer it.
GEPA/Johannes Friedl Alaba helps his team and team boss Rangnick off the pitch as “non-playing captain”
But he is still a player and feels that his role as captain has not “changed significantly”. “I am the captain of this team, I want to lead the way and make the difference with my presence.” And Alaba makes the difference off the pitch too, Bayern Munich also mourned his loss because he knew how to hold the team together in the dressing room.
The players appreciate that and all praise him to the skies. Even the team manager recently emphasized in an interview with ZIB2: “I think something like that is almost unimaginable in all other countries, that a player who is currently in rehab sacrifices his entire vacation because he wants to be with the team, because he wants to support us with all his experience. That’s how I imagine it in normal life too.”
Proud of the team and the process
Alaba is not at all surprised by the performances so far, including winning the group. “We have been on a path that looks very good for a long time, and not just since the European Championships. You need a very good squad for that. We always knew that we had enormous potential in the team,” said the central defender, who “wouldn’t want to miss anything” from the process. At the 2016 European Championships, they were knocked out without a fight despite high hopes, and in 2021 they were already in the round of 16.
“If you look at our squad now, in terms of quality and depth, it’s different than it was eight years ago. At the moment, everything is working extremely well, and we also have a certain unity as a team that is special. Everything before that was necessary to get to where we are today.”
IMAGO/Sven Simon/Anke Waelischmiller Centre-back Kevin Danso gets advice from his captain and position colleague
The next step is now to be taken with team boss Rangnick, who has further developed the players, team and environment. The pressure situation against Turkey is of course different, suddenly Austria is the favorite. “The team is dealing with it very well. We have to continue to follow our plan, but on the other hand we still have to try to stay relaxed and continue to approach the games the way we have approached them up to now,” emphasised Alaba.
“We realize that expectations are high, but we’ve known that from previous years. We’re not letting it drive us crazy. We have our own standards, and of course we want to live up to them. We’re not going to let ourselves be dissuaded from our path. We know that it’s going to be a completely different game.”
Comeback will take some time
It will be a while before he returns to the pitch. Alaba has not yet started running training after tearing his cruciate ligament on December 17th, and he did not want to give a date for when he will start team training. “I’m on a very good path, but I’m not putting too much pressure on myself or giving myself a specific date. I want to come back when I’m at 100 percent, and I’m doing everything I can to achieve that,” the defender stressed.
Alaba is currently completing two sessions a day with a personal fitness trainer and a physiotherapist who are in regular contact with Real. The rehab is “sometimes intensive and very hard. But I’m getting better from week to week.”
