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As agreed, Martin Demichelis requests the agreed-upon telephone interview and apologizes in advance for his German, although he has mastered the language perfectly after more than eight years in Germany.
Munich, says the 39-year-old man, has become his second home. He lives with his family in the noble suburb of Grünwald. He is grateful for the work that sports director Hasan Salihamidzic offered him last summer and which he accepted directly.
Demichelis has been coaching the U19 team at FC Bayern this season, forming a unique head coach duo with Danny Schwarz. His players know, of course, that he has 51 matches with Argentina and played the 2014 World Cup final against Germany. He completed a total of 481 competitive games in his professional career (including FC Bayern, Manchester City) and won multiple titles.
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However, it is rarely approached by its players. Demichelis talks in detail in his first one-on-one interview as a youth coach at Bayern about why, what his new life as a coach is, what experience he can pass on and who he can trust to make the jump up.
SPORT1: Mr. Demichelis, you will be 40 years old at the end of the year and give the impression that you could still be a professional.
Martin Demichelis: In fact, I was able to maintain my figure well, but I lost some muscles in my arms and legs (laughs). I love sports and I run a lot. Maybe that’s my fitness secret. With that said, I want to be a good role model for my children.
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SPORT1: Briefly to the next 40.
Demichelis: If crazy. But I feel good and I have a great life with my wife and my three children. We feel totally comfortable in Munich, the children go to school here and before that we had a good life in Spain. Professionally, I have great experience as part of the training team at U19.
SPORT1: How did it feel to return after almost eight years as a Bayern professional to work as a youth coach?
Demichelis: I have always said that it is a great honor for me as an Argentine to have this job at FC Bayern. Munich is my second home and I can learn a job that is my passion. Now, unfortunately, we have to pause. Before that we were really on the right track.
SPORT1: Then came the breaking of the crown …
Demichelis: Yes We are the first and we beat the VfB Stuttgart 3: 1 pursuers on campus in early March. Bitter was the elimination in the knockout stages of the Youth League against Dinamo Zagreb. I am still very proud of our team. The Corona crisis unfortunately ended our very good season at the moment.
SPORT1: How do you keep in touch with your players?
Demichelis: We are in close contact with the team of trainers. Athletic trainer Luca Schuster currently has the most contact with our players, also by video. Players have running programs, data is transmitted with GPS. You can plan your exercise program individually.
SPORT1: It’s quite unusual for you to form a successful head coaching duo with Danny Schwarz.
Demichelis: Danny loves Pep Guardiola’s game philosophy as much as I do. In cooperation with co-trainers Stefan Buck and Christian Saba, we work very well and very harmoniously and benefit from the fact that we have the same idea for the game.
“I love van Gaal’s philosophy”
SPORT1: When did you realize you wanted to be a coach?
Demichelis: I played like six in my career and in central defense. You must be able to read and anticipate a game in these positions. You need guidance and a special personality, body language is also important. As a player, I was always someone on the field who wanted to help, who was leading. So it was always clear to me that I wanted to be a coach.
SPORT1: Manuel Pellegrini, Felix Magath, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Louis van Gaal, trained with many great coaches. Who trained you the most?
Demichelis: I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to play with many good coaches. I trained with Pellegrini for seven years. He was a very important man in my career and of course I learned a lot from him. His philosophy was always very similar to Guardiola’s, he always wanted to dominate. Magath was a tough coach. I learned from him that there can be no success without discipline. Ottmar Hitzfeld had great team leadership, he never lost his cool, which is very important for a coach. I learned from Van Gaal the importance of control, passing, and ball movement. In the year and a half that I worked with him, there has been no exercise without a ball, I love this philosophy.
SPORT1: As a professional, you were considered to have strong opinions, sometimes they bothered you, and Ottmar Hitzfeld suspended him in 2008. What do you allow your players to do today?
Demichelis: Sure, I was buoyant as a player and sometimes had differences of opinion with my coaches. But I always wanted to help the team. At first in Hitzfeld I was supposed to play six, I accepted that. At Magath I was a regular player in this position. Then Hitzfeld returned and initially I lost my usual place. Before the 2007/08 season, I felt like I was looking for a new challenge, but Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said I had to stay, which was worth it, because I have been playing with Lucio in central defense ever since. So I was supposed to move up to six again in the spring of 2008, which then led to inconsistencies with Hitzfeld. That’s right, the last time I met Ottmar Hitzfeld it was a big hug.
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SPORT1: A nice anecdote.
Demichelis: At 24, 25 I was more emotional than today (laughs). Ottmar Hitzfeld definitely has a great personality. I love him
SPORT1: Your players are between 16 and 19 years old. Can you be critical of Coach Demichelis?
Demichelis: I hope you respect them first. For me, the children have knocked on the door and asked why they are not playing. I accept that because it shows that the players are not comfortable. As a coach, I have to discuss why they were on the bench or not on the team. Just like the coaches did for me back then.
SPORT1: How do you deal with players like Oliver Batista-Meier, who can play with you, who want to win the U23 and train with the professionals?
Demichelis: If he came down from the top, I would talk to him before each game. I told him that I know it’s special to train, not to play in U23 and then to play with us. But I made him understand that he had to be a role model. On the bus, in the cabin, before, during and after the game. More recently, he had an outstanding attitude towards us. It is important, and I tell children over and over, that they should enjoy soccer.
SPORT1: Can Batista-Meier make the leap to professionals?
Demichelis: Oliver is a great boy and a great talent. It is important to me that the entire team has developed very well. It is difficult to predict if someone will reach the top. Soccer is unpredictable and at 17, 18 and 19 years old they still have a lot of time. At Bayern-Campus we have many talents that improve every day.
SPORT1: Let’s talk about Bright Arrey-Mbi, who turned 17 at the end of March but was already on the team with 16 regular players.
Demichelis: Danny and I have great confidence in him, but also in our captain Flavius Daniliuc. Both have played very well together in central defense. But of course, despite the age difference, Mbi highlighted him, even in the Youth League. He is a great talent, who is also very far physically, but he is still a child, he still goes to school and he still has a lot to learn. You will have to make mistakes in your development, that is very important. I am convinced that at some point you will get your options in the first team.
“Klose will one day be a professional coach”
SPORT1: They stood alongside Lionel Messi in the 2014 World Cup final and won countless titles. Are your players telling you about your career?
Demichelis: No, they have too much respect for that. I also don’t like to tell much about myself. Occasionally I have to go around the corner with a story of experience and explain how it was with me at the time. What I always give them is that I accept mistakes in the field. The response after the error is the most important thing. I took that from my career.
SPORT1: Are you really in touch with Messi?
Demichelis: No, not at the moment. He is the father of three children and receives so many messages every day, so I don’t have to disturb him. The last time we met was at their wedding in 2017, not after that.
SPORT1: Danny Schwarz will complete the soccer teacher training course in June. What’s next for you in summer?
Demichelis: You will have days of attendance at Hennef, but we will continue to work closely as a team, that will work well.
SPORT1: What are your goals as a coach?
Demichelis: I am a team player and I am with the U19 to learn and do my experiences. I still have time to develop, but my goal is to become a professional coach someday. Now I want to learn quickly to get ready at some point.
SPORT1: How is your exchange with the U17 coach Miroslav Klose?
Demichelis: We have known each other for a long time and had a good relationship as teammates, now as a coach. Sometimes we have different ideas, but it has to be that way. He was a striker, I was a defender. He is German, I am Argentine. We both learn from each other. Miro is a good and intelligent man who will one day also be a professional coach.
SPORT1: Finally, Mr. Demichelis, how did you become a coach for the U19 team last summer?
Demichelis: Before this decision, he was a Bayern legend. A job with which he was totally satisfied. During these dates he often met Uli Hoeneß, Rummenigge and Brazzo (Hasan Salihamidzic, d. Red) and of course we talk about football. Perhaps after all the conversations they were convinced that I was suitable for the coaching job. I was in China with sponsor Allianz and then Brazzo called me and asked if I was ready for this job. I immediately said “yes”. I didn’t have to think about it anymore because I love this Mia san mia. I love being part of the Bayern family.
