Bastian Schweinsteiger’s first ever contribution to German football was an assist to a player he probably looked up to as a young budding footballer, Michael Ballack. He was only 20 at the time but football in Germany was about to undergo a new revolution.
Basti took up the baton passed on by Ballack and probably elevated it to an even higher pedestal. In his 12 years of service, there is not one moment at which any self-respecting football fan would point at and exclaim “He could have done more”.
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In 2006, Jurgen Klinsmann, a man who many revere as one of the greatest forwards Germany has ever produced lead his country to an impressive showing in the World Cup. What was impressive about it was not what the team achieved but the footballing principles, the players adhered to during the tournament.
The German has come to become a torch bearer of that very principle throughout his career.
The heartbeat of Bayern Munich
Over the years we’ve watched several memorable games at the Allianz arena. Something I have noticed personally about the stadium is the atmosphere generated by the adoring crowd.
Two particular sounds always give me goosebumps, even transporting me to the Allianz at times. The first one is the crowd celebrating a goal in unison by humming along to Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes.
The second and most important one is the resonance of vibrations that go around the stadium when they all together shout the word Schweinsteiger when prompted to by the announcer.
That roar is louder than most decibel loaded sounds you are familiar with. The midfielder has become a darling of the crowd in the years that have passed by. He’s one of their own, a player how has spent almost his whole life in that city.
But it’s not just the love of being one of their own, but the way he has always conducted himself when he puts on the red and blue striped jersey. Such has been his professionalism and commitment to the game he was born to play there are very few who could ever form the impression in the minds of millions of followers the way he has.
Schweini or Basti the two nicknames he goes by is a joy for any manager to have. With big talent, come big personalities and a clash of egos. Sometimes that ego boils over and it affects a relationship between the player and manager.
But it’s very difficult to find a single controversial headline when you ruffle through Bastian’s past. There aren't too many managers he would have crossed, and even those who he did cross were eventually won over by his work ethic.
In 2005, Bayern had a new coach in Felix Magath who demoted him to the reserve team but he did not stay in his bad book for long. He fought his way back into the first team and the club can thank Bastian for the League and Cup double they won that season.
Schweinsteiger has won so many trophies with the German giants that we don’t have enough fingers to count them with. By the late 2000s, he had established himself as one of best midfielders in the world.
There was only one trophy missing from his cabinet, and that was the UEFA Champions League. Bayern came close in 2012 only to lose to Chelsea in the final. Bastian was instrumental in that campaign , scoring the decisive penalty against Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
But he didn’t have to wait long before he got his hands on the trophy every footballer in Europe dreams of winning. There was no better way to win it than defeating your arch-rivals in the final and Bayern did exactly that by defeating Borussia Dortmund.
The Centre-piece of German football
There isn’t a stage more perfect to showcase your talent than the World Cup. It’s even more memorable when you are playing in your home country. But with home advantage comes pressure.
Germany were the hosts of the 2006 World Cup and Klinsmann had named a fairly youthful side, not giving preference to big name players, but selecting a side purely on performance.
Germany traditionally have had a very strong grassroots system, a system Schweinsteiger was a benefactor of. He was only 21 when he played his first World Cup for Germany and boy did he make an impression.
It became nearly impossible not to include him in the starting XI. Good players use big stages to announce themselves and Bastian was a prime example of that. Die Mannschaft went on to finish 3rd in the tournament but won a worldwide following because of the brave and adventurous brand of football they played.
Now when anybody mentions the modern German national team, the first name that comes to mind is Schweinsteiger. Even those who only follow the World Cup will have some inkling about the German midfielder and his association with the fluidity and directness of attacking football.
Schweini finally hands on the World Cup in 2014 in that famous final win over Argentina. He might not have grabbed the limelight but he did what Joachim Loew needed him to, be the leader to his younger teammates.
His teary exit from the international stage was an embodiment of the footballing spirit he represented and the current generation would be wise to take a leaf out of his very illustrious book.
Grace in hardship
Not every player can have a happy ending. There is no escaping the biggest sine curve that is life. Sadly Schweinsteiger is arguably in the trough of his footballing career at the moment.
He might be 32, but he is still efficient in everything he does. But your fuel tank starts to empty and you start to envision a date in your head, a date that will mark the end of your career.
His move to Manchester United at the time seemed like a smart choice. He had won everything there was to win and realised he would find it difficult by the day to convince Pep Guardiola he was the man in midfield.
With Van Gaal at the helm, he had a familiar face as well, someone whose trust he had already won over during his time at Bayern. United were still in transition after losing their talismanic manager Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013.
Van Gaal had appeased fans and the board, with a 4th place finish in 2015 after their disastrous 13/14 campaign under David Moyes. But at a club like United you are always expected to win. That is and always will be the benchmark upon which any manager is graded.
Van Gaal in the public’s and the board's eyes got an F in 2015/16 after failing to qualify for the Champions League despite all the expenditure. Schweinsteiger did not look himself last season but in some ways, he just didn’t fit the system.
The arrival of Jose Mourinho brought renewed hope to the club and their fans, but like any manager he had his baggage. Jose likes to do things his way and that sometimes means making room for new by getting rid of the unwanted.
But neither Bastian nor the United faithful saw what came next. One of the most decorated players in the modern game was banished to the reserves. Several of his former teammates condemned the treatment as unworthy of a player with his reputation and calibre
Mourinho has stated that it would be ‘difficult’ to accommodate Schweinsteiger in his team but the reasons remain unknown. Bastian is not the same player he was at his peak, which is ideally the biggest reason for a player's exclusion.
But the kind of treatment he has been the subject of in the last couple of months is harsh, to say the least. There is one thing that stands out from this ordeal the German has gone through and that is the composure and grace with the which he has handled the situation.
Normally the first response of a footballer to being mistreated is retaliation. Whether it’s through social media, their agent or any other form, retaliation is always an option players tend to choose.
But Schweinsteiger showed us that there is a second option, that option being grace. Grace is a word that is only associated with the beauty of the game itself but in the German’s case it fits perfectly.
Schweinsteiger came out to explain that he has no qualms with Mourinho over his demotion, and even denied the chance to prolong his career at another club, prepared to fight for his place at United.
How well that plan goes is anyone’s guess, but Schweinsteiger has taken the high road. Once his career truly comes to a halt, his success will not be measured by the amount of trophies he accumulated but the number of fans he won over.
To the footballing world, he will always remain everybody's favourite midfielder.
