Mesut Özil does not begrudge BVB the championship title

Mesut Özil keeps his fingers crossed for his former club Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga relegation battle. He does not begrudge BVB the German championship.

“Really strong how the boys got free,” said the 2014 world champion to the newspapers Funk media group. “I don’t want to imagine anything other than rescuing Schalke, who have been knocked out in the meantime,” said Özil: “Schalke must not become an elevator team now.”

The unconditional support of the fans is a positive surprise: “It feels like Schalke was playing in the Champions League yesterday and staying up in the league would now be a huge success.” The Royal Blues could “not be grateful enough” to their supporters, this support in the precarious situation was “definitely not a matter of course”.

The 34-year-old, who ended his career in March, does not wish for a championship coup by his permanent rival Borussia Dortmund. “I have to stay true to my blue roots,” said the native of Gelsenkirchen.

Özil, who also played for Werder Bremen and international top clubs Real Madrid and Arsenal London in the Bundesliga, was most recently under contract with Istanbul Basaksehir in Turkey. He played 92 international matches for Germany and won the title at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.