interview
Champions League winner with Borussia Dortmund, cup winner with Bayer Leverkusen and safe from relegation with VfL Bochum – Martin Kree, 401 Bundesliga games, has experienced everything that is decided in German football these days. A conversation about victories against Bayern, man-marking and hugs with Matthias Sammer.
Sports show: Dortmund, Leverkusen, Bochum: For all three of your former clubs, there is something at stake at the end of the season. Who are you rooting for the most?
Martin Kree: Well, you have to look at it this way: two can win something and one can lose a lot. Relegation, these are the games where you lose your temper, and as an ex-player and ex-supervisory board member, I’m really excited about that. Because it’s about existence. But of course I also feel for Leverkusen and Dortmund, not least because both situations are very similar to those back then.
Sports show: You are referring to the 1997 Champions League final, which you won 3-1 with Dortmund against a seemingly overpowering Juventus Turin.
Kree: It started in the semi-final. Manchester United had almost as many chances against us as Paris did now. And then you think: Wow, you’re in the Champions League final now! When the time came, just before kick-off, it flashed through my mind: You know, you can now go down in the club’s glorious history. And hopefully not because you kicked over the ball as a defender. It’s such an inner tension. I’m reacting physically right now, so this feeling has stayed with me for my whole life.
Sports show: But the tension disappeared thanks to the course of the game, I assume?
Kree: Juve were the overwhelming favorites. And then we scored the first goal, followed shortly afterwards by the second, and then I noticed how they were panicking. And later, after we had to overcome many difficult situations, with five minutes to go we became certain that nothing much was going to happen here, that we were actually going to win the Champions League, even though no one thought we could. Then everything fell away from me. I then gave Matthias Sammer a hug that I actually only do with my wife.
Martin Kree, 58, played 401 Bundesliga games for VfL Bochum, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund between 1983 and 1998. In addition to the Champions League, he won two German championships with BVB. Today he is the owner of an IT training center in Holzwickede.
Sports show: Would you say that the balance of power between Dortmund and Real today is comparable to that between Dortmund and Juve back then?
Kree: I’ll say it clearly and unambiguously: we used to have a better team than today. Not in a direct comparison, of course, that would be nonsense. But in the respective temporal context. We were better positioned in terms of player personalities than the team today. And Juve didn’t have the Champions League self-confidence that Real Madrid has today after all their titles. But we were also lucky, that has to be said quite clearly. Without that, it wouldn’t work. And if Borussia can repeat the performance from previous Champions League games and bravely apply pressure, who knows. In terms of atmosphere, BVB has already won. 400,000 ticket requests compared to an alleged 19,000 for Real – that speaks clearly for Dortmund.
Sports show: Let’s come to Leverkusen and the next parallel: cup final against Kaiserslautern, against a lower-class opponent, like yours in 1993 against the Hertha amateurs. Does the Europa League gossip change anything?
Kree: No. If you win, it was clear to everyone. If you lose, you’re the fool of the nation. It had to happen at some point that they would lose. Is that why they’re falling apart now? On the contrary. This will be a defiance reaction at its finest. I also heard from Dublin that the team isn’t moping at all.
Sports show: Were you surprised how Leverkusen was completely dominated by Bergamo?
Kree: They practically played man-marking, one-on-one all over the pitch, and that really hurt Leverkusen. Added to this was the referee’s long leash, there were a lot of things that would have been whistled for us, they didn’t know that.
Sports show: So not a suitable recipe for Kaiserslautern?
Kree: This is a very complex style of play, you need high quality and a willingness to take risks. I don’t think Lautern can do it in such a short time. Unless Friedhelm Funkel has been secretly training them for weeks. (laughs)No, Leverkusen will show what they can do and crown their outstanding season with the double, I am convinced of that. I would love to play with them.
Sports show: VfL Bochum is anything but stable, one gets the impression that their first club is currently destroying itself. Was it the right decision to throw Manuel Riemann out immediately before the relegation games?
Kree: You could have predicted that things would escalate when the relegation battle was at a critical point. We’ve known for a long time that Riemann is an uncomfortable guy who speaks up, maybe even too much. And on the other hand you have the team that is now saying that’s enough, what right does he have to criticize people like that when they’re just doing their best? The club is now in an unnecessary dilemma. I think the decision is right in principle, but I would have liked it to have been made earlier, not immediately before the decisive games.
Sports show: It was just three months ago that VfL beat Bayern.
Kree: That was the worst outcome that could have happened.
Sports show: What is your explanation for the crash?
Kree: I can still remember after the Bayern game up in the VIP room, there was a whispering “now we’re through”. I said: wait and see, not yet. If you conclude from a win against Bayern that nothing can happen now, that we can beat everyone, then that’s fatal. Suddenly you’re lethargic, in a downward spiral and you can’t get out of it, and then football is brutal and you slip to 16th place at the last minute on the last match day.
Sports show: Does the irresistible have any advice on how to prevent the worst?
Kree: If I were Hermann Gerland, I would say: You have to eat grass.
Sports show: Nothing has changed in all these years, right?
Kree: Quite simply, if things aren’t going well in terms of football, then you have to bite, scratch, push, poke. And not just at the back, but also offensively, as a collective. I think we’ll be able to see where we’re headed after ten minutes.
