AHEAD OF MAN UNITED’S Premier League clash against Newcastle on Saturday, Owen Hargreaves dropped by Old Trafford to catch up with former team-mate Bastian Schweinsteiger.
The pair played alongside each other in the Bayern Munich engine room for five years as they helped the club win three Bundesliga titles during that time.
Hargreaves then left Munich for Manchester in 2007 and Schweinsteiger has followed that same path after joining Louis van Gaal’s side during the summer.
The German international has instantly become a fans’ favourite at Old Trafford and in an interview with BT Sport, told Hargreaves what convinced him to move to England.
“If I’m going to change my club, I want to play for a club who is similar to Bayern with a philosophy and a tradition and now the manager is Louis van Gaal and the combination of both is brilliant,” the 31-year-old said.
Schweinsteiger has yet to start a game for his new club but has made a positive impact from the bench in all three of United’s outings this term.
After spending nearly 15 years at Bayern, the midfield general admitted he wasn’t sure what to expect when he first arrived at the Theatre of Dreams.
“I didn’t know how the supporters would be to me but from the beginning I had a good feeling.
“It was a special feeling as it was the first time I played at Old Trafford in daylight. I played here twice with Munich in the Champions League.
“The last match here it was 1-1 and I scored and also I got a yellow and then red card at the end for a tackle on my friend [Rooney]. I think I played the ball though.
“I want to be a fighter in the middle of the field.”
Victories over Tottenham and Aston Villa have given United the perfect start to the campaign but Schweinsteiger believes it’s still too early to be thinking about lifting the title in May.
“It’s not time to say we are going to win the league,” he admitted. “But I always want titles and a club like Manchester United should play for titles and not for positions 5, 6 and 7.”
After signing a three-year deal, Schweinsteiger became the first ever German player to line-out for Man United’s first team and it appears he’s already making an impression on the dressing room.
Earlier this month, he said he wanted to take his new team-mates to the Oktoberfest and the World Cup winner is still hopeful of showing the United squad the sites and sounds of Munich.
“I don’t think he [van Gaal] will let us but I will try it and if we have a good result before maybe there is a chance to do it.”
The man can do no wrong……
Except for getting a team relegated
Idiotic comment. Worked wonders for years keeping Wigan in the Premiership on a shoestring budget.
I was at the Wigan QPR game last season and the few Wigan fans that were there had nothing but praise for the job he was doing for them. One of the best young managers in the game.
Martinez has struck me as a class act since I first became familiar with him at Wigan. Today’s speech was understated and respectful yet laden with empathy and sincerity. Brilliant stuff … Fair play to him.
Has always come across as a pure gent. Never heard anyone give out about or say a bad word about him.
Kenwright, Martinez and Everton in General have carried themselves exceptionally in all this. Such a welcome change from the vile bitterness all to common in football rivalry.
Rivals for a day, friends for life…. the way it should always be….
Great speech….great team… great city…
ETID ..rip the 96 and hopefully peace of mind to there family…
That’s classy, would expect nothing less of him.
Great guy!
Sky said after the speech that they distanced themselves from some of his comments! Unbelievable even for a sky! Worries about libelling the police.
I happened to see that as well – Kay Burley made that remark. I wouldn’t take much notice or get bothered by any utterance/observation from her mouth.
It wasn’t that they were distancing themselves from what Roberto said, more that they were waiting to see if there were any remarks made that could be considered as contempt of court. The new inquests are covered by the Contempt of Court act, and so people have to make sure that nothing is said that could prejudice the proceedings. Roberto made a heartfelt, beautiful speech today, and he’s done wonders over at Goodison this season.
Didn’t know that. Thanks
Top class.