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SPIEGEL: Mr. Koch, are you a statistics nerd?
Koch: No, why?
SPIEGEL: There is the statistics tool for the expected goals and expected points (expected goals and points). This evaluates the quality of a team's chance of scoring and calculates an expected number of points. Accordingly, you are in a much better position with SC Freiburg than it would be likely. Freiburg is currently playing over their own options.
Koch: That may be. But everyone with us also knows how to assess the situation. It is extraordinary for us that we are sixth in the table after 15 games and are just behind FC Bayern.
SPIEGEL: How is the Freiburg soaring to be explained?
Koch: Above all, we often decide the 50:50 games for ourselves. This is different than in some seasons before.
SPIEGEL: And then you are part of an extraordinary defense yourself.
Koch: Yes, we are quite stable. With 18 goals conceded, we are currently the second best defensive in the league. But not everything is perfect. Many things are not yet at the top level. We got four goals against Leverkusen and Gladbach - and now lost in Berlin. And we have to create even more opportunities up front.
SPIEGEL: It is said in the Bundesliga that nobody likes to play in Freiburg. For years, the sports club has only been allowed to play in the Black Forest Stadium with a special permit. The field there is several meters too short and wider than others. There is a gradient. Teams play 45 minutes uphill, 45 minutes downhill.
Koch: Then there are the fans who sit very close to the field. I have not yet noticed that things should go uphill. But the guys on the national team always say they don't like to play here. It's always gross in Freiburg.
SPIEGEL: The new stadium will be ready in summer - for 76 million euros with 34,700 seats. Actually, it's a shame with such a location advantage.
Koch: No, we players are looking forward to it. In the Black Forest Stadium everything is a little dated. Weight room, changing rooms and video room are getting old. In the Bundesliga comparison, they are certainly among the older ones.
SPIEGEL: Nevertheless, Freiburg is often considered an oasis of wellbeing, a family club that makes a lot out of little. Is that a cliché?
Daniel Kopatsch / Getty Images
Christian Streich (center) is the longest-serving coach in the Bundesliga. He has been head coach of SC Freiburg since January 2012.
Koch: No, the impression was also confirmed for me. It is very important here that it not only works on the pitch, but also in the cabin. That shouldn't sound like soccer romance, but I'm already really good friends with some guys. After training, most of the team go out to eat together and we do a lot together in the evenings. When I tell Jo and Serge (Joshua Kimmich and Serge Gnabry) that there are eight of me in the Champions League, they say: Wow, that's how it should be. This is rarely the case with them. However, the two have to play all the time.
SPIEGEL: Christian Streich is a special coach figure in the Bundesliga: he is considered emotional, a bit chewy, but also one of the few who position himself socio-politically. What is it like to work with him?
Koch: That is special. On the one hand, he tries to get us further in football. He is incredibly accurate in his analysis. Sometimes we sit in the enemy analysis for hours and take care of every detail. But on the other hand, the trainer always takes the human into account. It's not just about football. He also wants us players to develop as a person.
SPIEGEL: As a player, are you more protected in Freiburg than in other clubs?
Koch: The media hype is not so big here. Here you can concentrate on football in peace. People have only recognized me more often since I played in the national team.
SASCHA STEINBACH / EPA-EFE / REX
In October, Robin Koch made his international debut in the friendly against Argentina.
SPIEGEL: You made your debut in the senior team two months ago. In summer you became European Under-21 champion. In parallel with the SC, you too have soared.
Koch: It all went incredibly quickly. The nomination for the national team came as a complete surprise. I had to leave a day later, so I had little time to think about it. And then suddenly you're together with players who kick for Bayern or Real.
SPIEGEL: You yourself have an unusual training path: you have never played in a youth academy and only played your first international in the U21.
Koch: My parents always said. First comes school, training and then football. I played most of my youth at Eintracht Trier. But that was in the highest league - at the level of the performance centers.
SPIEGEL: You made your debut for Trier in the regional league at the age of 18 and then climbed upwards year after year: first Kaiserslautern II, then the first team in the second division and in 2017 the move to Freiburg in the Bundesliga. To what extent has this path shaped you from quite far down?
Koch: Maybe that also helped me to stay calm. The first few years were a stressful time. I started my three-year apprenticeship as an industrial clerk at the age of 15, and left home at half past seven. When others were off, I commuted to train for an hour. And had to complete extra units there because the rest of the team had trained in the morning. But it also helped me that I didn't always have football.
Martin Rose / Getty Images
Robin Koch's father Harry Koch (seen here in the shirt of 1. FC Kaiserslautern 1999) was a cult figure in the 1990s.
SPIEGEL: Did you actually talk to your father Harry recently?
Koch: We talk on the phone a lot, why?
SPIEGEL: He was a crowd favorite at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. But above all, he was a Bavarian fright. With TSV Vestenbergsgreuth, he threw Munich out of the DFB Cup in 1994 in the first round, and in 1998 he snatched away the German championship with FCK - as a newcomer. He could have tips for your game against Bayern (Wednesday, 8.30 p.m. / live ticker SPIEGEL, TV: Sky).
Koch: There was no special phone call. We talk a lot, but rarely about football.
SPIEGEL: What was it like to be the son of a cult player?
Koch: He often took me and my brother to the stadium, so we were allowed to play on the pitch after the final whistle. But on vacation, when we wanted to kick him, he always needed a break and distance from football.
SPIEGEL: What chances are you expecting against Bayern?
Koch: To win against Bayern, everything has to go perfectly. But it is not impossible.
