BORN LEADER
Basti’s a winner, says Hargreaves
AT BAYERN Munich’s Säbener Strasse training ground , there is a dedicated facility for the academy players aged between 15 to 18.
Within the building is a mini hostel which houses 14 of the club’s most promising stars, whose hometowns aren’t close enough for them to travel to training each day.
Two hopefuls who rose through the ranks with Germany’s biggest club before eventually joining Manchester United lived here.
Owen Hargreaves is three-and-ahalf years Bastian Schweinsteiger’s senior so they were at different points i n their development. Around August 2000, not long after Hargreaves broke into Bayern’s first team, Schweinsteiger hopped on his bicycle after school as usual to rush back to Säbener Strasse in order to watch the stars train.
On one occasion, Hargreaves was working alone, so Schweinsteiger took this as the perfect opportunity to watch a fellow central midfielder perfect his craft.
‘I used to practice free-kicks and he came by when he was living in the youth house. He came by and said “can I have your boots?”. I didn’t know who he was. I think I said no to him,’ Hargreaves says with a smile.
‘Then he came up in the firstteam a couple of years later, so when he came through I tried to help him make that transition easier, as when I came through it wasn’t like that.
‘When you came through in Germany to the first-team the older guys used to kick the life out of you, that was the school it was,’ he recalls. ‘That was fine, I quite liked it actually. But when I was in the first-team, when the lads came through — Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm — I was going to try and help and mentor them.’
He must have done a decent job because a year after winning his first Bundesliga title, Schweinsteiger then broke into the firstteam squad. Over the following four seasons, the pair won a further three German titles together.
Hargreaves moved on to Old Trafford in the summer of 2007 and the man known as ‘ Basti’ became a central figure.
‘That is why him and Lahm are captains,’ the 34–year-old continues. ‘They are extremely accommodating and helpful. Think back to [Paul] Ince and [Roy] Keane, those dominant characters that were leaders.
‘You really had to earn everything. Now look at all the captains in the teams. They are accommodating characters. Messi isn’t going to bollock anybody. It doesn’t work like that anymore.
‘He is a prime example of being a leader and having success without so much hostility, because I think back in the day a lot of leaders led like that. That is no criticism but the game has evolved.’
That may be so, but some things never change and when Liverpool arrive at Old Trafford to take on United this evening, the only thing matching the level of intensity on the pitch will be the hostility between supporters off it.
With Michael Carrick struggling with injury, Schweinsteiger looks set to get his first taste of the biggest rivalry in English football. Hargreaves played at Anfield for the first time in December 2007, and was given some last-minute words of warning from Alex Ferguson just to make sure he was aware of what was coming his way.
‘He said “Owen, I know you have played in a lot of big games but this game is unlike any other. If you think you have two touches you have one because the game is played at such a frantic speed”.
‘I thought, “what is he talking about?”, I had played in World Cups, Champions League finals. To be fair, the first 20 minutes I don’t think there was any football played as it was so frantic, the pressing. Anfield is so tight, so it was first 20 minutes — once you get over that…’
Luckily f or the 31- year- old, Schweinsteiger’s first experience will be on home territory. However, despite his decorated career to date, the World Cup-winning cap- tain is taking time to adapt to new surroundings like anyone else.
‘I admire anybody leaving their comfort zone,’ Hargreaves adds. ‘He was part of the furniture at Bayern, he could easily have stayed and had an easy gig. I left Bayern after 10 years for a change, because you get too comfortable sometimes. A lot of people could stay in their comfort zone.
‘You have to admire people who take that opportunity.
‘You will see him at his best in the big Champions League games, because he will control the tempo when you need to.
‘As much as he is a great guy, the most important thing is the product on the pitch. It is great to have a relaxed, good environment but he wants to win and has done a good job of that with about 1,000 league titles over the years.’
It is the next few that Manchester United supporters care most about.