Christopher Antwi-Adjei was very excited after scoring against Bayern

Christopher Antwi-Adjei inspires the football nation with VfL Bochum. In an interview, Hagen also talks about his role as a role model.

The 4-2 victory of Bundesliga club VfL Bochum against record champions FC Bayern Munich made the sports world sit up and take notice.

Mr. Antwi-Adjei, how do you feel about going into a game against the record champions?

Christopher Antwi-Adjei Every game starts at 0:0. But we had a history after we didn’t look good in the first leg. Our goal was to be courageous nonetheless, and we did that from the first minute. We had a couple of good moves forward – you know how it turned out.

Your goal to equalize 1-1 was your first goal for VfL Bochum. Do you imagine that beforehand?

Not really coloring. Of course, scoring the first goal for your new club in the game against Bayern is something very, very special. And I would definitely appreciate it if I could continue like this and if we as a team get the points we need to stay in the league.

Olaf Thon, world champion from 1990, said after the game that Bochum would no longer have anything to do with direct relegation. A statement you sign like that?

That’s definitely a bold statement. We all know how fast it goes when we don’t win two or three games. We now have to see that we can continue to score points in the next game against VfB Stuttgart and afterwards. We have to keep scoring if we don’t want to have anything to do with relegation.

Does the euphoria from the victory still last or has it gone again?

Unfortunately, there are only three points for this win as well. But if you look at the highlights from the game again and see what goals were scored, then the euphoria remains. But we know for sure that we will continue against VfB Stuttgart on Saturday and we are focused on the next task.

Did you take a souvenir with you after your goal against Munich? Maybe the ball?

I would have pocketed the ball if I had scored three goals. That’s why I just kept the jersey.

What are your personal goals for the rest of the season?

There can only be one goal and that is to stay up. Anything after that is a bonus. If we manage to get VfL Bochum to play in the Bundesliga next season, then we will all have achieved something really big together.

At SC Paderborn you trained under Steffen Baumgart, who is known for his emotional nature on the sidelines. What is the biggest difference to your current coach Thomas Reis?

Both are very committed coaches and both let play forward. In Paderborn we were constantly up front. When I came to Bochum it was something different. We already play pressing, but also a lot of one-on-ones. In terms of character, Baumgart gets a lot out of his emotions, Thomas Reis is a bit calmer there, but can also go off quite a bit (laughs).

You were born in Hagen. Do you still have contacts in the Volmestadt?

Yes, there is still plenty of contact. My whole family and many friends still live in Hagen.

Your younger brother Stanley would like to follow in your footsteps. Do you trust him?

He is 19 years old and unfortunately injured at the moment. But he definitely has the potential. If you follow my path, you can see that I didn’t turn pro until I was 23. And he has what it takes to make it too.

He once said that although you were technically better than him, you could still learn something from him in the end. Is that correct?

We also talked about that, we will have to clarify that internally (laughs).

They didn’t take the typical route via the academies of the big Bundesliga clubs. Do you see yourself as a role model for young footballers in that regard?

Definitely. Most professionals today come from academies. I’m one of those players who took a different path and I think it’s good that you can still do it. Otherwise it wouldn’t be fair either, because every player goes through a different development. But if you keep at it, stay motivated and try to reach your potential, then you can achieve great things. It’s still a dream for me to play in the Bundesliga. I was expecting that I might play in the 3rd league at some point, but I didn’t expect it to be in the 1st league. And that’s why every game is special.

You played for the Ghana national team in the 2019 African Cup qualifier. Are there any other missions planned in the near future?

There are currently no plans. I follow the team, most recently at the African Cup. Due to Corona and our descent with Paderborn, contact was lost. But I would of course be happy if there were any rapprochement again in the near future.