André Schürrle: “We won't rely on statistics”

Mr. Schürrle, you're through to the knock-out stages of the Europa League, you're within touching distance of second place in the Bundesliga and you're still in the German Cup as well. Everything has gone pretty well so far, right?

You could say that at the moment, but it means nothing if we don't keep up the performances in the second half of the season. Therefore we're all making sure that we carry on working hard. If you become complacent you make mistakes. We've not achieved anything yet.

Your performances are also on the up after you received some criticism in the first few weeks of the season. Could you understand those critics?

As a professional player you shouldn't let yourself be influenced by the outside world, otherwise you become distracted. What's important is the manager's and the club's feedback, and there have never been issues from their side.

A magazine recently summarised your “meteoric rise” and described you as someone who loves speed, but forgets to use the clutch when going up a gear. Is it a fitting comparison?

They've done well to even come up with that.

In the eight Bundesliga matches so far against Hoffenheim, Leverkusen have had seven wins and one draw. The statistics speak for themselves…

We won't rely on statistics. It will be a difficult task for us on Sunday and has nothing to do with previous success. Hoffenheim are a really strong team.

Will you be making a visit to your parents' house in Ludwigshafen-Gartenstadt this weekend? Do you keep in contact with home? Do you follow your former club Ludwigshafener SC?

There's a lot of stress at the moment with lots of travelling, so there's not a lot of time for private life. But of course I maintain my friendships with people at home; nothing's changed there. Obviously that includes keeping up to date with what's happening at LSC.