Richards: "The friendship will be on hold"

There's a special game coming up on Sunday – you're playing against FC Bayern, the club from whom you joined TSG on loan. How are you feeling ahead of the match?

"I'm a bit excited of course, but that's the way I am ahead of every game. Being able to play in the Allianz Arena again will bring back some fond memories for me. Playing against the guys I trained with and am friends with – that'll be a very special moment for me."

Will you have any contact with your old team-mates prior to the game?

"I'm in a WhatsApp group with Jamal Musiala, Alphonso Davies and Omar Richards. We write to each other a lot there. But we try to not speak much about football in the group. That might perhaps be slightly different this week, as the game is now approaching. In addition, we'll surely speak to each other out on the pitch before the game. But as they say: once the game kicks off, the friendship will be on hold."

How important was the win against 1. FC Cologne?

"It was a very important victory for us, especially coming after the international break. When so many players travel back from different countries, it can either go totally wrong – or, as it did in our case, extremely well. Having a victory like that behind you does you a real lot of good going into the week you play Bayern. You're always the underdog against them, but the self-belief does us good."

You're the outsiders against Bayern – how can you defy the odds and win?

"I think we saw in the Cologne match what we should do. That was our best performance so far this season. We got almost everything right. You also have to make almost no mistakes when you play against a team like Bayern. And then you need a little bit of luck on top of that. We simply need to go into the match with the same attitude as we did last time out. Counter, play it simple and defend well – we'll do what is necessary to win the game. And hopefully the luck will be on our side this time."

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