Alessandro Schöpf: I got a few comments

Alessandro, simple question to start off with: How much do you miss football?

Very much so, but that applies not only to me and my teammates, but also to all the fans. I hope we can play again soon.

You trained individually at home for a few weeks. Are these training sessions more strenuous than a „normal“ training session?

I don’t think you can really even compare the two, to be honest. There were more stability and strength exercises and units on the ergometer at home, as well as a few runs. That way we could at least maintain our fitness level.

Bastian Oczipka revealed that you have all received a heart rate monitor and that you have to enter the values ​​into an app after the exercises so that the coaching staff has direct access to them. Was the coaching team satisfied with your values?

I’ve tried to do my entire program to the best of my ability so that I’m fit when everything gets going again. I haven’t heard anything else from my teammates. We all have to stay in shape – that’s our job and our aspiration. The feedback I got from the coaching staff was positive and I haven’t heard anything to the contrary from the others in the squad.

With cyber training, you have recently trained with your teammates – even if only digitally – several times. Does that push you a little more if your colleagues and especially the coaching staff are watching you closely?

It didn’t push me any more than normal, because I always give it everything I’ve got in my individual training. But for the community and team spirit, it was extremely important that we introduced cyber training, because it’s a great way to communicate with each other and work together as a team. We were all so happy to see each other again when we did the first session.

You’ve barely seen your teammates in the past few weeks. How did you keep in touch with each other?

We regularly catch up with each other in our WhatsApp chat. Every now and then there’s a few funny messages that get sent too which is a good part of it.

The team jointly decided to forego part of their salary due to the corona pandemic to support around 600 FC Schalke 04 employees.

We knew we could help the club out a lot if we gave up a bit of our salaries. We as a team quickly decided that we had to do something – that speaks to the character of the team. There wasn’t a single player who spoke out against it. The team council then approached those responsible so that we could put things in motion.

You spend a lot of time on Instagram with your girlfriend – and we saw on social media that you guys were did a #SwitchItUpChallenge. What reactions did you get from your teammates?

Especially when you have a lot of time at home like now, it can get really boring, so a little fun and distraction can really help. I got a few comments on the video from my team-mates, I expected nothing less. If I can make a few people laugh during this time then I’ll always do it.

You were also seen to be singing a lot. Did you discover a new talent in yourself?

I wouldn’t call it talent (grins). Playing the guitar actually works quite well and I’m getting better and better. The singing itself, however, still needs a bit of work. I just wanted to put my followers in a good mood, getting a few comments from the lads was always going to happen (laughs).

What about TV series? Got any advice there?

I looked at ‚Elite‘ and ‘Money Heist’ on Netflix. I can absolutely recommend both series. We’ve been watching a thriller series recently: ‚Toy Boy‘, also on Netflix. However, that’s in English. Another couple I like would have to be ’Modern Family‘ and ‚Two and a Half Men‘ as well, they’re good.

Finish off the sentence: If the Bundesliga starts up again in May, then…

…We’ll all be happy to return to a bit of normality. I just want to wish the fans all the best and to stay healthy!