Philipp Bargfrede looks relaxed and in the zone. The 4-2 away defeat at Bayern still hurts, yet his full attention has already turned to the match this weekend. Anything but a home win will not do in his eyes. WERDER.DE caught up wiith Bargfrede to discuss what he expects from Hertha this weekend, and where he sees his career in the future.
It was on 30th August 2009, when the fresh-faced Bargfrede walked out of the tunnel for the first time with his player mascot. Before that he had only played 22 minutes as a substitute for Werder. Just three months before, Bargfrede made his debut in the DFB-Pokal victory against Leverkusen in the Berlin Olympiastadion. 69 minutes and one yellow card later was his work done. Werder won the match 3-1 with a team consiting of players like Tim Borowski, Mesut Özil and Claudio Pizarro. In the following year, Werder had a good run in the Champions League with that famous comeback against Sampdoria Genua. Bargfrede felt his early career was a formative time, “I learnt a lot during the early days of my career. Over time, I’ve become more experienced and a better player.” The man born in Zeven, Germany, has gained this experience against some of the top teams such as Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan in a so-far-wonderful career.
Now in the fight for places at the bottom of the table Werder have an uphill battle in the second half of the season, “It is a huge game for us. We’re playing at home and we really want to walk away with the three points. It’s the only thing we’re focussing on at the minute,” said Bargfrede ahead of this weekend’s fixture. He emphasised however that this Hertha side cannot be underestimated, “We are expecting a tough opponent come Saturday: a side with a lot of potential. But I am approaching the game with a positive outlook and the whole team will give it our all out on the pitch.” The Munich match showed that even a side full of world class players had difficulty breaking down a well-disciplined Bremen side, from which the Green-Whites and Florian Kohfeldt should take confidence and use that to fight for the three points at the weekend. Bargfrede stressed that, “In Munich we did exactly what the coach told us. We played really well going forward, but we just left ourselves short at the back and we need to work on that this week.” The longest serving Werder professional is predicting a home win for the match at the weekend, “We are going to win because we have been so on it. We are taking the good form we have shown in recent weeks and keep striding forward. We deserve the win this weekend.”
For almost a decade “Bargi” has been playing professional football and he believes his time at the Weser-Stadion is far from over. When asked whether he could see himself playing for another club he said, “It was always my dream to one day play in the Weser-Stadion. I feel so at home at this club. My friends and family all live in the area. That is really important for me and I can’t imagine living without it.” The fans too, would love to see him continue his playing career at the Weser-Stadion.
