Pushing yourself is something kids today are missing out on: Philipp Lahm

Former England midfielder Owen Hargreaves returned to his first club, Bayern Munich, to film a documentary on what makes the Bundesliga giants tick. He spoke to club captain Philipp Lahm
Could you have imagined the journey you'd go on as a young guy? Becoming a professional, club captain, all the success with the Championships, Champions Leagues, winning the World Cup as captain of Germany.

No, no way. I came at 12 in 1995 and everything's a dream. To become a professional. It's a dream to become German champion, to become a German national player but that it all happened, German champion, Champions League winner, captain of the club, to play for the national team. It's not something that you can plan. Maybe eventually it becomes a goal but at the beginning that's what it is, just a dream.

It was a hard school...

It was a hard school definitely, it was a different time but it was also beautiful. Times have changed now, where young players have more of a chance to come into the first team and be a part of the team. They are accepted straight away and helped a lot more whether that's a good thing or not I'm not so sure because to push yourself through that time is something that this generation has missed out on.

For me this is my home. I'm born in Munich, I grew up here, I've been at Bayern Munich since I was 12 years old besides the 2 years in Stuttgart. This is my home here, it would have been hard for me if I'd left and the club had had success without me. I might have won the Champions' League earlier with another club but the value of winning the Champions' League with my club is much more valuable.

I have a contract until 2018, I might play for fun in my free time for another team but not in professional football. It's nice that people talk about me in other positions at the club. I've got another 3 years at the club, let's wait and see what happens then. Of course I can imagine myself staying here after I've finished playing, that goes without question.

Guardiola came and took over what was already a very successful team from Heynckes. What makes Guardiola so special?

His tactical understanding is incredible. He always gives our team solutions to playing the opposition. He prepares for every opposition completely differently. How flexible our team has become, with a back 3, back 4 or back 5.

I didn't know so many different formations were possible

He prepares the team so well. It's excellent, I don’t think I've ever experienced anything like it. Even though we won the triple with Jupp, it was an incredible time. We got second in everything in 2012, in every competition and then the season after to go win the treble, which was incredible. But besides that point we're playing differently from that time. With Heynckes in 2013, in the big games we played quite defensive on the counter attack. Everybody worked together as a group, we invested a lot of energy in the games.

Now under Pep it's more tactical and we have more possession but not like previously when we had a lot of possession but we didn't have any clear goal scoring opportunities. The goal is to go forward and create goal scoring opportunities. To press very high. To win the ball back very quickly. But to do that you need a clear plan and the daily work on the pitch.