"We know how good we are"

Berlin – True, they may only have been friendlies, but these were seriously tough encounters. First the away game against England, then the high-scoring draw against France. In the midst of all that was Marvin Plattenhardt, who now has five caps for his country. “It is and remains something special to play for Germany. I cherish every moment with the national team,” said the 25-year old. After flying back from international duty on Wednesday, the full-back was straight into training on Thursday. Now, Plattenhardt wants to keep his momentum going into Saturday’s encounter against Mönchengladbach. “We can cause any team problems when we give everything” – ‘Platte’ is sure of it.

herthabsc.de: Platte, you went abroad with the national team. London or Berlin: where do you feel more at home?

Plattenhardt: (laughs) Everyone knows how good I feel in Berlin, but of course London is a fantastic city with lots to do. It was my first time there and I was really impressed. I got a good impression of London from our trip, but football remained the focus. Now, I’m happy to be back in Berlin.

herthabsc.de: UEFA Europa League, DFB-Pokal and Bundesliga – it’s been match after match for Hertha recently. Add to that the 90 minutes you played against France. How do you deal with the extra match-time?

Plattenhardt: I can definitely feel that added load in my legs, but everything is under control. This is the type of challenge we prepared for in pre-season, and players are given a rest through rotation. It’s clear from our performances that we can cope with the extra games and that we don’t have any problems physically. 

herthabsc.de: On Saturday you’ll come up against Lars Stindl, whose late equaliser against France you recently celebrated. Did you joke about facing each other this weekend?

Plattenhardt: We were principally focused on the games at hand and therefore not so much on the Bundesliga. I was very happy when Lars scored on Tuesday, but it would be good if he struck a blank this weekend (grins). We didn’t really joke about coming up against each other – there’s no bet between us or anything.

herthabsc.de: What do Hertha have to do to beat Borussia?

Plattenhardt: We know how good Gladbach are, so we’re meticulously planning for the game, but we also know how strong we are. We can cause problems for any team if we play how we know we can play. We’ve already shown that this season in the Olympiastadion. We have to show that we want to win the game from the first second. We’ll have to fight for every ball, defend compactly and take our chances.

herthabsc.de: The team is struggling with a fair few injuries going into this match. What impact does that have?

Plattenhardt: I don’t think it’s a huge disadvantage. It’s tough for the injured players because they would rather take part, but we have an even greater strength in depth than past years. Even the youngest players thrown in by the coach perform to a high standard.