Philipp Lahm: "We are here to play quality football"

Bayern Munich and Germany captain Philipp Lahm claims his side is in India to showcase quality football and to show the locals how it is to play against a top European club.

Philipp Lahm accompanied by a jovial Schweinsteiger

The 22 times Bundesliga champions are currently in the country to warm up ahead of the second leg of the competition and are set to play against the Indian National team at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium tomorrow in the capital. Even though its the club’s third visit to the country, it is for the first time that they are bringing a full strength squad featuring the likes of Arjen Robben, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Muller and Franck Ribery. Lahm admitted that his side is comparatively unaware of football in India, adding that they have seen Indian cricket team in action though.

“We have not followed Indian football much. The only Indian footballer we had heard of was Bhaichung (Bhutia) playing in the World XI. The only sport we have seen India participate is cricket. Back in Germany, we just get a bit of cricket on TV.

Anyways, we would like to test them. We are here to play attractive football and to show what a top European club is all about.”

The press room broke into laughter when an embarrassed Bastian Schweinsteiger joked that he is looking forward to check out Indian women more than Indian cuisine. The creative midfielder added that he has fully recovered from his shoulder injury.

“There is no problem now and I have recovered from my shoulder injury. If Baichung does not go for my shoulder I should be OK.”

Bhutia, at his witty best chipped in:

“If we reach a 0-3 scoreline, then I guess we will target Bastian’s shoulder!”

In reply to Sportskeeda reporter Siddharth Sharma‘s question regarding the veteran’s fitness, Bhutia said:

“I am not 100 per cent fit in the Indian national team standard as well as Bayern Munich standard but will start tomorrow in the playing eleven and hope to play full 90 minutes. I had suffered from calf muscle tear and I hope it does not occur again.”

Replying to Siddharth’s another question, Indian coach Savio Medeira revealed that Nirmal Chhetri is certain to start tomorrow after putting in decent performances for the national side in their title winning SAFF Cup campaign.