Philipp, please complete the sentence: If Marko Arnautovic’s goal against Italy in the round of 16 at EURO 2020 had counted...

...we would have been in a great position to reach the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, normal time ended goalless and we lost 2-1 in extra time.

Have you now learnt to wait a little bit before celebrating goals?

Of course, because you know what can happen nowadays. They can even be ruled out for situations before the goal that you wouldn’t even consider. Nonetheless, I’m still happy when we score a goal. That’s just part of being a footballer.

Ultimately, though, the decision was correct, even if it was really tight...

On two occasions, actually. There was also a penalty shout for Stefan Lainer, but that wasn’t given because there was an offside in the build-up. It was a heartbreaking game for us. One small consolation is that we went out to the eventual champions.

Who were you supporting in the final?

I watched the final at home with my girlfriend and it was actually my birthday on the day. I liked Italy a lot prior to the tournament, although I also appreciate English football too. The result was okay in the end.

Christian Streich regularly says how narrow margins make the difference at this level, whether it’s at EURO 2020 or in the Bundesliga. Two or three centimetres can often decide a tournament or a season. Even though your team was on the wrong end of this, does this not make football so fascinating?

Yeah, it can always be close and that makes it exciting. A small mistake by a defender or an outstanding piece of play from a striker can decide games. In one game it can go against you, in another it can go for you – that’s what makes it so special.

How did people back home react to your performances? Has anyone here in Schruns mentioned it to you?

Yes, the cook came up to me yesterday and congratulated me! He was impressed with how we did and was right behind us. We’re all really happy that we were able to get so many Austrians on board supporting us for the tournament. Even though we were gutted when we went out, pride is now our overwhelming emotion.

And how would you rate your tournament personally? You played in two of the four games.

I obviously would like to play. I got two chances to impress and the game against North Macedonia was a great and important experience.

We saw you back quickly in Freiburg with your girlfriend and dog after the tournament. Did you not want a holiday after a long Bundesliga season and EURO 2020?

We’ve only just got the dog and he’s still a puppy, so we decided to stay at home so he can get used to life here. A holiday in Freiburg is still nice.

What’s he called?

Balu, he’s a golden retriever.

So, we’re now in Schruns for our traditional pre-season training camp. You and the other guys who’ve had international duty didn’t feature in the 1-1 draw against FC Vaduz. How hard is it to get going when you’ve got two completely different teams?

I was positively surprised how good Vaduz were playing in the first half. There was a lot of quality on the pitch. You could tell that we’d only just started pre-season and we’d had a few intense sessions recently. It’s hard for a team when the players haven’t played with each other much before. The coach will analyse the mistakes with us. That’s what friendlies are for.

There are a number of young teammates in the training camp with you. Does it feel like your role has changed? Even though you were considered one of the younger players in the squad fairly recently?

I’ve been 25 for a few days now. I want to take on a role as a leader and help the younger players. It’s good to have lads from the academy regularly moving up to the first team. I’m always there if they have any questions and I’d like to help them on the pitch too with clear instructions.

Otherwise, there haven’t been many ins and outs this summer. What are your thoughts ahead of the new season?

I’m really excited for it. We already spoke about how small details can be decisive and we’ll work on that in the coming weeks. I think we’ve already got a lot of quality in the squad and everybody knows what’s required of them. We’re definitely going to be competitive and we’re capable of another good season.

The squad will be recovering from Friday’s game on Saturday, although you haven’t got much to recover from yet yourself. How do you spend your free time in the hotel?

I trained in a small group in the morning. We’ll see what the weather’s doing in the afternoon. If it stays dry, we might go the top of the mountain. The views are amazing here.