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SC Freiburg’s Maximilian Eggestein is the linchpin of his team’s midfield. In this interview, the 24-year-old speaks about his fantastic start to the 2021-22 Bundesliga campaign, Freiburg’s new stadium and finding his place in the team. He also discusses his boyhood dream of playing in the Champions League – a dream he will be hoping to fulfil during his time at SC Freiburg.
Eggestein on Freiburg’s start to the season
“In this first part of the season, in terms of how we’ve played and how we’ve worked, I think we’ve earned the points that we have on the board, you can’t say we’ve been lucky or anything.
“I think a big part of it is that the boys have been working together for a long time now, everyone’s very in tune with each other, the coach has been there for a long time, and it all took a long time to develop. I think you’ve seen the club continually take steps forward in the last few years; the new stadium for example is a huge developmental step, and it’s surprising to some people that we are where we are, but it’s all down to hard work. Like I just said, we haven’t scrounged for anything, we’ve worked hard to get it. We know that there will also be more difficult phases to come this season, but that doesn’t mean it’s not nice that we’re still unbeaten after eight games, and that we are where we are.”
Eggestein on the new stadium
“I think what makes it extraordinary is the way everyone worked for it, and the people who work here. It’s just a building in which everyone works, but the important thing is how people work, and which people are there. That’s still the case with the new stadium, we want to stay true to our path and keep working on what was started here at Dreisam. I think you could see that in the game against Leipzig: we’re not a different team just because we’re playing in a different stadium. The team is the same, everything around the team is the same, it’s just a different building.”
Eggestein on facing Freiburg as an opponent
“It’s tough. I think a lot of teams would say it’s awkward to play against Freiburg because they’re a team who wins through hard work, and one who had a really special stadium. Now we have to make sure we carry that through to the new stadium, so it stays the same, so everyone continues to say how difficult it is to play against Freiburg. Whenever we played Freiburg with Werder, we always said ‘Damn, they never stop. They never stop defending’, for example. That isn’t the case a lot in the Bundesliga, that you have teams that really put it all in right to the end like Freiburg like the coach wants us to do.”
Eggestein on comparing Werder and Freiburg
“It’s similar. I think both clubs try to create a really good relationship between everyone involved, and a good atmosphere where you put the work in. For us, for Werder, in the last few years which have been quite tough, then obviously you lose that a bit. But I think that’s really important, and both clubs put a big emphasis on close relationships and a good working environment. And that makes putting the work in easier.”
Eggestein on joining Freiburg
“First of all, it’s a nice feeling when you’re wanted. For me, the first thing I had to come to terms with was saying ‘Ok, I’d like to leave Bremen’, because after ten years – it was nothing to do with other clubs or anything, it was just the first step for me to say that I was ready to leave Werder after ten years. The feeling was ‘Ok, I want to do that this year’, and then when Freiburg came in, I thought ‘That can work. It works for me, I think I work for Freiburg’, and then you speak with a few different people.
Firstly, you talk with people who have been at the club or who are still there, for example, Flo Bruns, someone I knew, someone I had a personal relationship with. And then eventually the coach came in, and he said he thought I would fit well, firstly as a person and then in terms of playing style. And obviously, that’s a nice feeling. After that, he didn’t really have to do much convincing or persuading, that didn’t happen. It was a conversation: I wanted to learn about the work at the club, what their idea of playing is, and you know a bit already when you play against a team so often, so it wasn’t all completely new, but it was a conversation, we got to know each other, but it certainly wasn’t the case that he had to do a lot of persuading for me.”
Eggestein on Christian Streich
“He has lots to him. On the one hand, even though it’s tough as a coach, he always tries to make sure he gets 100% out of everyone, even when, as I said, it’s hard to always focus on the smallest details with 24, 25 different players. But he tries that. Then you have to say that for him, the team absolutely comes first. Everything comes after the team, and when you’re a team player then you’re happy to work in a team, and it’s important that the team comes first. That’s part of their thinking when they make transfers, as you just said – everyone here sings from the same hymn sheet. And then outside of football, he’s the kind of person who looks beyond one’s nose, which I think has made him a bit ‘famous’ across the country. He doesn’t mince his words and he’s passionate about social issues, and I think those are things that make him such a cult figure if you can say it like that.”
Eggestein on youth players
“It’s very present, not least because there are a lot of academy players in the side. Chicco Höfler, Christian Günter, the ‘old heads’ you could say, and then there are new ones like Yannik Keitel, Kevin Schade, we saw Kiliann at the weekend, so we have lots of good lads coming through. I think that’s the right way, bringing your own youth players through, and obviously, Christian Streich comes from the academy, he knows the whole thing, and he has a different perspective than a coach who comes in from the outside and hadn’t worked in the academy here.”
Eggestein on Freiburg’s youth players
“It didn’t surprise me because the youth team were promoted to the third division last year, and that speaks a lot about their quality. Now they’re playing well in the third division, and so I wasn’t surprised. I find that pathway to be the right one, like you just said, every single one of us came from an academy somewhere, and that’s the right way. I’m really happy for the boys that they’re getting the playing time, that’s all any young player wants when he comes up to the first team, to get the chance – and they’ve got a coach who’s going to give them the chance, but also tries to find a good balance, and they’ve got a good environment here so they’re not going from zero to 100 straight away. I think it’s a good environment here.”
Eggestein on moving clubs
“It was time to come out of my comfort zone. After ten years, everything is almost automatic, it’s the same, you always end up in the same place, and for me, it was time to say – not related to the fact that we went down to the second division – OK, perhaps as a person but also as a player it’ll be good for me to come out of that comfort zone, and learn something new, put down some new roots, work with another coach, and as you said, enter the next chapter.”
Eggestein on being relegated with Werder
“Yeah, over the whole summer break, then pre-season, then the start of the season, it’s still with you. It’s not something you can just let go of. As I say, I was there for ten years, obviously, the club means a lot to me, and I know a lot of people there. You’re just sad that it’s come to that, especially because in hindsight you have to say there were signs. I think for me it was tougher than had it been at a club where I’d just joined, and we got relegated – it was different.”
Eggestein on Werder’s form this season
“You have to see that a huge change took place, and everyone has to find themselves again. You can see it in games like against Heidenheim, you can see the boys have quality, but it’s a very young team, one of the youngest in the 2. Liga, so you have to remember that. I think they’re lacking a bit of consistency at the moment, and when they get that, they’ll play with…more consistency! But that’ll help them find themselves, and whether it happens sooner or later, whether it’s this year or not, we’ll see, but I hope they find their way back up, because I believe Werder belong in the top flight, and lots of other people believe so too.”
Eggestein on finding his place in the team
“Yeah, by now I have. At the start, it’s normal. You need a bit of time to find yourself in a new system, a new team, a new coach, and to add to that I was the only new signing. That’s normal, that’s part of football. But now, I’ve found my own flat, things like that, so right now I’m part of it, yeah.”
Eggestein on playing for Germany
“I was there, I experienced it. Obviously, I had a dream to get back into it, but coming out of the situation I’ve just come out of, with the relegation, with the two years I’ve had at Werder, it’s not playing a huge part in my thinking. I’m just focusing on playing football in peace, being successful with a team again, achieving things for myself personally, and the horrible things, I’m not thinking about them. The important thing is that we have success as a team, and that team success then brings personal success because it doesn’t work the other way round – you can’t only have personal success without the team succeeding. So, I’m very thankful to have been given the chance here, I’m very thankful that it’s going so well at the moment, and we’ll just see where it all takes us.”
Eggestein on the Champions League
“Yeah. It’s a dream for anyone, where you say it would be amazing if you could get there. As a kid I dreamed of playing in the Bundesliga, I managed that, and you always aim for higher. Obviously, it’s a dream to play there one day, but I think at the moment it’s still far away for us.”
