On the back of a 4-0 home win against Schalke and ahead of next Saturday’s clash with TSG Hoffenheim, 28-year-old SCF left-back Christian Günter joined us for the weekly club interview.

scfreiburg.com: Günni, how are you sleeping after your first career brace?

Christian Günter (laughs): It was a great day and a great evening. I got a lot of messages and a lot of people were really happy for me, so yeah, I slept pretty well.

Your attacking teammates also gave you top-marks for your goals. How often have you rewatched your two goals since Saturday?

Once or twice, not that often really. But I will be watching them again in the next few weeks. It’s not a common occurrence for me to score twice in one game, after all.

After your second goal you covered your ears with your hands, like a true goalscorer. What were you trying to say there?

To be completely honest, there was no underlying message. I just don’t score enough goals to realise what I’m doing while celebrating. Afterwards when I see it on TV or something, I often think: What on earth was that? (laughs)

With 40 points on the board, relegation has practically been avoided already, but the team surely won’t be taking their foot off the gas now…

No, definitely not. We couldn’t be more pumped for the remaining games. There is still a lot we can achieve – we could turn what has already been a really good season into an outstanding one. That’s definitely our ambition.

We would have faced Hertha on Wednesday night, but their players are in self-isolation. In this connection we would like to with all those infected a speedy and full recovery with minimal symptoms. How valuable is this extra rest from an SCF perspective, though?

We can all tell that our energy starts running a bit lower after a while. That’s also down to our lack of a winter break and our shorter time off last summer. So it is obviously good for us if we have a few more days to recuperate before going into the final few games with fresh legs.  

Our next game is at home to TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday. They will have played against Gladbach on Wednesday night. Will you be following their midweek game?

Absolutely, 100 percent. Obviously we will have a video analysis session with the team afterwards as well. But the more I see of an opponent at home, the more I can take with me into the game.

You’ve played against Hoffenheim several times and you’ve won all of the last three meetings with them. Are you still able to recap now what each win was down to?

One of them was definitely because I scored a goal (laughs)…

...and set one up...

True. Nah, to be honest, we put a lot of effort into those games – that’s what we’re all about. We made things difficult for our opponents, with strong tackles, good running and quality football. Those games also always went really well on a tactical level. We mirrored Hoffenheim a little with our back five. That didn’t suit them.

Can any of that be applied to Saturday’s game?

Hoffenheim are a bit more flexible tactically now and have played with a back four sometimes from what I’ve seen of them on TV. I’m excited for the weekend. We will definitely go for it and try to get the next home win in the bag.