Sami Khedira & Mesut Özil - 100 days at Real Madrid

Mesut Özil: I feel very comfortable at Real, at the club and in the city. Everything fits. The good results help as well.

What was at Real different and more difficult than you thought?

Özil: It has really helped me, of course, that coach Mourinho and the other players, the stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas as well as the other new ones, gave me such a warm welcome. That was perfect. It was also positive, that I only had to stay in a hotel for one week and then found a home immediately. Only the unfamiliar language was a bit difficult.

Khedira: I cannot say anything negative. The team has welcomed me well, I'm feeling now confirmed that this is the right step for me. Here I will make an enormous development, as a person and as an athlete.

How did this move change you as a football player?

Khedira: I had to change my way of playing football. At first, it was not easy. At VfB and in the National Team, I had more freedom and could attack more often. At Real Madrid I have to restrain myself. The coach demands, that I keep my position and play the simple, clean football. From the perspective of the fans this may not be that attractive, but it hepls the team. I play now smarter and more clever and have learned to divide my strength.

Özil: I'm still the same player, even though the coach gives me a few other tasks. But he gives me all the freedom I need. And I also have to participate in the defensive. I improve every day.

What is different mentally?

Özil: The pressure at Real is completely different, you're forced to win every match. But that's precisely the challenge I have searched and why I have done the next step. Now I want to win titles.

Khedira: At Real you are always aware, that you are playing with the best of the best. Each of our opponents gives 120 percent against us, for the fans winning is a duty and each draw is a disappointment. That requires huge mental strength.

How does Real Madrid change a new player?

Khedira: Anywhere in the stadium, at the training ground and in the dressing rooms there are trophies, that make you realise, that you are now a part of a myth. I think it a great honor to play for Real. I also see myself as a representative of Germany. For years, Michael Ballack was the only classy german player abroad, now, with Mesut, myself and Jerome Boateng in Manchester, we are already three.

Özil: Of course you feel that this is the biggest club in the world. They do everything for us players, everything is perfect. And yes, Sami's right, you are a part of a myth, which is noticeable in every match or in the whole city. The people are very friendly, ask for photos or autographs.

How does José Mourinho shape a football player like you?

Khedira: He recognizes the strength of a player and tries to build him up. He shows me how I have to behave on the pitch and when I have to attack.

Özil: It is fun, working with him, but he also requires a great deal of you. Also he is a top-motivator and excellent professional, tactically, in every regard. His instructions are perfect.

Will he be able to create the perfect mix of spectacular offensive and solid defensive?

Özil: I think so. We just have to see the recent matches: We score many goals and don't allow many. With Casillas we have the best goalkeeper in the world, a strong back four and two great defensive midfielders, Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira.

Khedira: Primarily I want to win something and not conquer the hearts of the fans. That's why I can warm easily to Mourinhos way of playing football.

You want titles. After your first impression, what can be possible?

Khedira: In Spain the duel with Barcelona electrifies everybody. If we continue like this, for me, there can only be one champion - Real Madrid. And in the Champions League we have shown already, that we can go very far.

Özil: All titles are possible and we want to win each, that's why we play at this club. We want to achieve great things

How good is your spanish by now?

Khedira: Thanks to the intensive training with my language teacher I understand already a lot, have a big vocabulary and can express myself grammatically in the past, present and future.

Özil: I can understand my teammates on the pitch, so there I do not need of a translator anymore. My vocabulary is growing every day, it will take about half a year in order to speak freely. I learn as well with a spanish teacher. If the spaniards only would not talk so fast ...

To whom in the team do you have the most contact in this starting time?

Khedira: Mesut in first place. With Angel Di Maria, Pepe and Cristiano Ronaldo you can have a lot of  fun. Diarra, as one of the experienced players, gave me good advices in english.

Özil: Basically, I get along with all of them. Closer contact I have in particular to Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe, Marcelo and Higuain.

How complicated are stars like Cristiano Ronaldo?

Khedira: Ronaldo is discribed in public very different. He is totally straightforward, open, helpful, polite and down to earth. It is not an easy life, if everybody recognizes you, from the eight year boy to the eighty year old granny. He is keeping both feet on the ground

Özil: That's true. Ronaldo is not at all aloof, always friendly and helpful.

What does your german team-mate mean to you?

Khedira: Of course it is good to have someone you get along so well and you can speak your native language with. I think that Mesut is also very happy that I am there.

Özil: Of course I am happy that Sami is here. We can support each other everywhere.