Nothing without hard work
Fabian Lustenberger spoke in an interview about his first win at Schalke and his role as an experienced player.
For the first time in eleven years, Fabian Lustenberger could celebrate a win at Schalke. “A win at Schalke. I have now ticked that one off the list!” said the happy 30-year-old via Instagram. He is no stranger to the KIEZ kicker session – an open training session in the smaller districts of Berlin. Herthabsc.de talked to Lustenberger about the KIEZ kicker, the win at Schalke and future aims.
herthabsc.de: Lusti, on Tuesday you will start the KIEZ kicker training session. Around 2500 fans were at Mariendorf. How was the experience?
Lustenberger: It was a great day all round for us! The weather was superb and there were lots of people there, more than recent years. It was fun to give autographs to the fans and playing with the kids was good. I hope that the next KIEZ kicker day will be the same.
herthabsc.de: The past games against Schalke haven’t always been a pleasant experience but now you have finally won there. How do you feel about the match.
Lustenberger: We put in a perfect away game performance, even though we were lucky that Schalke missed a penalty in the first half. It was a difficult game, especially as Schalke have showed that they can defend well. I think that we have carried on performing well after our good performances from preseason games in Leipzig, Leverkusen or even Munich.
herthabsc.de: Three games, three wins. The start of the new season is looking good. Why do you think you have started so well this season?
Lustenberger: There aren’t any obvious reasons as to why we have started the season well. Sometimes the team just plays well and sometimes not. Six points after two Bundesliga games is amazing of course but we cannot take things for granted. We want to put in similar away performances to the one at Schalke. At home, we need to be patient and play good football. However, the priority is to win and if we can continue to do that, it will be a good season. It is clear that a bit of luck is always needed, but we have also worked hard for these results.
herthabsc.de: You are 30-years-old so you are one of the senior members of the squad. How do you intend to help the younger players?
Lustenberger: I always try to be a role model in training and on game days, even if I am not in the team. I want to show the younger players that it is always important to give everything. Nobody gets anything without hard work. I'm definitely here to help out.
herthabsc.de: The past two games against VFL Wolfsburg ended in good results. What kind of game do you expect as it is second versus third place?
Lustenberger: We will go there wanting to win! Wolfsburg also have six points, but that doesn’t matter to us. It's going to be like our game at Schalke, we need to be defensively secure and to keep a clean sheet. In attack we are always able to score.