To grow up and play for FC Bayern Munich and eventually Germany has been truly a dream come true.

Any business or club has to have a hierarchy. Everybody needs to know and understand his role in the overall structure. Bayern Munich is no different.

I think that it is advantageous to join Bayern Munich at a young age.

Every single player has to take responsibility for what they do. Look at the Manchester United team that won the Champions League in 2008, they didn't have a 'leader' like Roy Keane any more.

I joined Bayern at the age of 11, and from then on it was all about being up to the competition. It doesn't matter who you face, you are always the favorite. You learn this at a young age. And this continues throughout your career at Bayern Munich, you are always the favorite or one of the favorites in every competition you are involved in.

AC Milan would never have been the same club without Paolo Maldini or Franco Baresi and they certainly would have never had the same amount of success.

I experienced how Pep Guardiola worked every day. He had football on his mind round the clock: 'What system does the opponent like to play? How do I want to set up my team, who do I want in which position?'

Except for two years in Stuttgart, I have always worn the FCB jersey.

If you do the job out there on the pitch and you have it under control, as in my case, you want more. You want more responsibility. You want to take care of it all. That is the case with me.

Clubs like Manchester United or Barcelona have a system, and then you hire personnel who fit this system.

Football is teamwork, unity, defence, assists, sacrifice.

The most important thing is that we play as a team. It means to attack together but to defend together as well.

Our sport needs lethal strikers, goalscorers, heroes. But football is much more than the moment of triumph.

In football, surprises are always possible.

It's not enough to buy good players, one has to develop a team.

We make adjustments and changes before and sometimes also during the games in order adapt to the opposition. The manager will, for example, tell the striker to make different runs or position the central midfielders slightly differently in relation to each other.

Cruyff's idea was, quite literally, to play football - nothing more, nothing less. His idea of how football should be played was based not on controlling the opponent, but on the ball and the game.

History shows that it is incredibly tough for a defender to be named Footballer of the Year because over the course of a year there is normally always a forward who steals the headlines up front.

Many great teams have players who have come through the youth system or have been at the club for a long time as their captains. I'm thinking of Steven Gerrard at Liverpool, John Terry at Chelsea, Raul at Real Madrid, as well as Puyol at Barcelona and Gary Neville at Man United.

I have played football since I was five years old. This is my core skill and it will always remain so.

Sporting behaviour means fair behaviour. This is the player's task, not the referee's.

I think we can keep people off-balance and ultimately we have to go score points, score one more point than the other team.

You have to give yourself a chance to get in the postseason.

I think all 32 teams have the goal of winning a championship, that goes without saying.