6 Mesut Ozil

This interview appears in the current edition of Sport magazine. Download the free iPad app from the Apple Newsstand, and follow on twitter@sportmaguk

“After 25 minutes, I took a deep breath. I thought to myself: is this really happening?”

Mesut Özil shakes his head as he recalls last year’s World Cup semi-final. “We were playing Brazil, in Brazil, and they were having a good tournament like us. We were expecting a really tough game. How could we be 3-0, 4-0 up?”

It rapidly got even better for Germany. “Going into half-time with a 5-0 lead did our confidence the world of good,” says Özil, as masterful with a herculean understatement as he is with a deft assist. “During half-time, we just looked at each other in shock. But the manager brought us to our senses. He told us not to underestimate Brazil. This is football, anything can happen. Nobody expected Sweden to come back against us but they did [from 4-0 down to draw 4-4 in a 2014 World Cup qualifier], so we knew we could not take our foot off the gas in the second half.”

So much for the rumour that Germany made a half-time pact to go easy on a shattered Brazil in the second half of their 7-1 win. The final, says Özil, meant even more: “Germany had a habit of just getting to semi-finals, so I was so focused on winning that game. We did not come all this way to lose. I was ready to do whatever was required for the team to win.”

Great Expectations

Doing whatever the team required was Özil’s focus throughout the World Cup. A surplus of central midfield talent and a pre-tournament injury to Marco Reus meant he was shifted away from his favoured ‘number 10’ position to the flanks. He did that job successfully enough to start every game of the World Cup. But understandably, he didn’t shine as he has done so often in his favoured position. For the first time, the player who top scored with eight for Germany in the World Cup qualifiers was the subject of criticism for his national team.

Similarly at Arsenal – during his first season and a half in a new league, with a new team – there were those who questioned Özil’s worth. Perhaps it’s understandable, when a player sets such lofty standards, that they are judged in the toughest terms – and Özil has always been a feted youth talent.

Germany’s Under-21 manager Horst Hrubesch once said of the teenager: “We have our own Messi. Our Messi is Özil.” Thanks for the pressure, Horst.

But there’s no denying that, of Germany’s golden generation of young talent, Özil was the jewel in the crown. When he sparkled as a roving attacker during Germany’s 2010 World Cup (memorably tearing England a new one in the space between Don Fabio’s rigid banks of four), he arrived at the highest level. A transfer to Real Madrid confirmed his Galactico status.

The now 26-year-old Özil has set the bar so high for himself, that pundits and fans have great expectations of him. Yet he’s calmly nonplussed at some of the criticism directed at him over the past 12 months.

“If you look at my statistics, I am one of the players who covers the most distance,” he says. “Also, if you look at the stats in terms of assists and creating chances, they are all pretty good. I know some people might want me to make X-number of passes – but people often miss what goes on off the ball.

“I’m not really bothered what critics say. What’s important is what the manager and coaching staff think. I am a team player, I just care about always giving 100 per cent for the team.”

Space Invader

In 2015, team player Özil has regularly run more than any of his team-mates. He topped Arsenal’s distance-covered table in the wins against Aston Villa, Everton and Leicester City, as well as in the Champions League loss to Monaco. So why does he face accusations of being lazy?

His languid running style is part of it, but the illusion is more to do with how and where Özil makes his runs. A player who hares around after the ball will always catch the eye. But Özil isn’t running after the ball, he’s chasing space. His heat maps show a player who pops up across all areas of the pitch, making him harder for opponents to pin down. In other words, Mesut Özil isn’t chasing the ball – he’s chasing where the ball will be.

Even so, he admits that he was far from his best for Arsenal as 2014/15 began. “I was exhausted at the start of the season,” he confesses. “I started playing professional football at the age of 16 and had never really suffered many serious injuries. I guess ten years of consistently playing football took its toll. I was also struggling with the physicality of this league.”

Injured ligaments in his left knee in October was a black cloud that had a silver lining: “The injury worked in my favour in a way, as it gave me time to recover, to assess and to work on what was required to compete in this league. The football here is far more physical, it is played at a faster tempo and you have to adapt to the sheer number of games. I have had to work a lot harder and adjust my game accordingly. I used my time out with injury to work on my strength. I’m continuing to do extra sessions after training now.”

Özil’s manager Arsene Wenger has been full of praise, claiming that the midfielder “pushed himself to the limit of what you can absorb physically” in the gym while he was out injured. Since February, he has slipped back into the team superbly, sporting a new, buffed physique. “At the moment I am pleased with the consistency of my game,” admits Ozil. “I feel I am now playing my best football since joining Arsenal.”

Jose and Arsene

Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho may not agree on much, but they agree on Özil. He was a regular first-team player during Mourinho’s three seasons at Real Madrid. “Özil is unique. There is no copy of him – not even a bad copy,” said Mourinho of his playmaker-in-chief. Meanwhile Arsene Wenger, not a renowned free-spender, signed off an alleged £42.5m to snaffle Özil from Madrid in 2013. The move caused dismay among many at Madrid – particularly from Cristiano Ronaldo, who was peeved at seeing his favourite assist-provider sold.

“The main difference is that in Spain and Germany, if you go 2-0 or 3-0 up, teams tend to give up and it becomes easier to keep hold of the lead,” says Özil on the differences between Europe’s three biggest leagues. “In England, you can be 4-0 up and they will still fight until the final whistle. They also play at a faster tempo and, as a player, you also have to get used to not having a winter break. But that is what makes it so great; I love playing matches. I prefer playing matches to training. If I had to pick one, I would definitely say that the Premier League is the strongest out of the three.”

On reflection, perhaps Özil was never the perfect fit for Real Madrid – a club that, by reputation at least, achieves success by throwing brilliant individuals together rather than building a squad or team. Özil is a rare thing given football’s increasing cult of the individual: a superstar attacker who claims that creating a goal gives him as much pleasure as scoring one.

“Arsenal have always had a distinct way of playing,” he says of his current club. “We play a passing style that could be described as being similar to Barcelona: we aim to dominate possession of the ball. In Olivier Giroud, Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck, we have three types of attackers who all offer something different. Having three strikers so distinct from each other makes it harder for our opponents to defend against.”

On Saturday, Arsenal return to the scene of last year’s FA Cup win for a Wembley semi-final against Reading. However, next weekend’s home match versus Chelsea also grabs the attention. Despite a seven-point gap and Chelsea having a game in hand, does Özil still feel that Arsenal can win the league this season?

“It would be wrong to talk about winning the title, because it is not in our hands,” he says. “Our goal is to win every game until the end of the season, whether it be in the FA Cup or Premier League. It is a bit frustrating really, because we have to hope Chelsea slip up, but all we can do is focus on our game.”

Frustration is a word that has been associated with Arsenal for a decade. The club has never finished out of the top four in the league in that time and qualifies for the knockout stages of the Champions League like clockwork. However, they exit in the last 16 with equal precision, and haven’t won the Premier League in a decade. For a club of Arsenal’s ambition, that isn’t quite enough. What does Özil – a proven winner with a World Cup, La Liga title and multiple cups in the bank – think Arsenal need to take the step from contenders to champions?

“We have the quality of players,” he says. “We had a lot of injury problems at the start of the season, but now that just about everyone has recovered, you can see our quality. Just look at the performance we displayed against Liverpool [in April’s 4-1 win]. When we have a fit squad, we are capable of beating anyone and are a genuine title contender. We have just been a bit unlucky in terms of injuries.”

Big Shoe To Fill

The Premier League may have taken time to adjust to for Özil, but he rapidly adapted to life in the England. “I am really happy living in London – it has a real charm about it,” he says. “The city is really multicultural. There’s always something to do compared to, say, Germany where most places are shut on Sunday. In Madrid, everything was shut at midday because of the siesta, but in London everywhere is open 24/7.”

It makes sense that a German player with Turkish heritage whose religious faith is extremely important to him would be at home in a city as diverse as London. Özil credits his background as a part of the reason why he became an ambassador for The Big Shoe Initiative, an organisation that funds surgeries for children in need around the world.

In 2014, Özil donated a sizeable portion of his World Cup winning earnings so that several Brazilian children could receive medical help. It’s easy to be cynical about footballers and charity donations, given the amount of cash high-profile athletes trouser. But for every footballer like Özil, who’s generous with his time and money, there’s plenty who aren’t.

“In my culture and upbringing, giving back to society is important,” he says. “I was consulted by a charity asking if Iwould be interested in setting up a foundation for young kids in need. It was really eye-opening seeing what the kids we were helping in Brazil had gone through. I was more than happy to do my part. We are not just focused on Brazil – we will also be doing charitable work around the world.”

He may have global ambitions – with Arsenal, with Germany, with his charity – but in person Özil cuts a modest, softly spoken figure. It’s a far cry from his social media presence, replete with amusingly mixed-up German-English hashtags, random emojis, dressing room selfies (they love a dressing room selfie at Arsenal) and pictures of his pet.

“I have one dog, his name is Balboa,” he says of the black pug, named for Sylvester Stallone’s boxing creation. “But I was frightened of dogs as a kid! I wanted to overcome my fear, so I decided the best way to do this would be to own a dog. I got it as a puppy, raised it and have overcome my fear. Now, I love dogs.”

It’s a stretch to say that Mesut Özil ever feared the Premier League, but the lesson is similar. Familiarity has helped him to adapt and he’s starting to love life here. Great news for Arsenal fans (and pooches). Bad news for Premier League defenders.