Daniel Elfadli: “That’s the irony of life”

You’re now in your second season in Hamburg. Last year you arrived from Magdeburg as a newcomer, but you established yourself quickly. How do you see your role now?

I see myself as someone who motivates others, who’s vocal, who stays positive. I want to help my teammates and take responsibility. I know the routines and the environment here. I get on well with everyone and try to use my experience to create a good vibe. We’ve lost some players who took on that role last season, so I’m aware I need to step up and come out of myself even more.

What do you think about the changes within the squad?

We’ve obviously got a lot of new players. It’s normal that it takes time for things to gel, especially with different languages and cultures. But ultimately we’ve got great characters in the squad – you sense that quickly. That makes me very optimistic about building a positive environment together.

"We want to keep adding that clarity to our game."

Your playing style has also evolved as a team. How far along are you after pre-season and two league games?

We’re improving step by step in every training session. We’ve got a new system, new patterns of play and new players. You can see progress, and the way we want to play is becoming clearer. We want to keep adding that clarity to our game.

Did the international break help in that regard, both on and off the pitch?

Definitely. Spending time together always helps – talking about football, working on our things we can improve about our game and also enjoying activities away from the pitch. It brought good energy into the group and helped us bond further.

Sambi Lokonga and Fabio Vieira have joined recently, both from Arsenal. What have you made of them so far?

They’re top players, each with their own qualities. They give us elements we’ve been missing, especially in terms of creativity and bringing our forwards into play. That will make us more dangerous in the final third.

On Saturday you’re away at Bayern – the league’s dominant force. How do you balance anticipation and respect ahead of this one?

Both are there. Of course there’s huge respect, because they’re one of Europe’s top teams. But the anticipation outweighs it, because it’s a one-off occasion. You don’t get many games like this in a career, so you have to go into it with excitement and prepare with joy and professionalism. We’re travelling there with the belief that we can win – and that’s important to stress. We’re not going just to see how it goes. We have our own strengths and, even if we only get one chance, we’ll try to take it. We don’t need to talk ourselves down.

How do you approach the game and manage that balance between the self-belief you’ve emphasised and the great respect for the opposition?

It’s normal to have great respect. That makes it all the more important to tell yourself to bring belief with you – because we have quality too. It’s still a football match, and in football a lot can happen. We genuinely believe we can take something from the game. With that mindset we’ll throw everything into it, even in the difficult phases. It’s normal that the opponents will have more of the ball. We want to be patient without the ball and look to take the chances that come our way.

Finally, Bayern’s Serge Gnabry went to the same school as you. He also made it to the professional game via a roundabout route. You once said he inspired you. How special is it to face him now in the Bundesliga?

Yes, exactly. I saw him a few times in the schoolyard, and later I played together with his cousin Yannick at Reutlingen in the Oberliga – we even shared lifts. Back then I thought to myself how amazing it would be to follow a path like Serge’s and one day make it to the top. At the time that was of course unthinkable. To now come up against him is kind of funny – that’s a bit of the irony of life.