On 19 October, Flashscore published an exclusive interview with Diego Demme. In it, Demme spoke about his positional changes at Paderborn, RB Leipzig's rise and the difficulty of winning trophies in Germany.
Paderborn role under Roger Schmidt
Diego Demme stated in an exclusive Flashscore interview: "My coach at Paderborn was Roger Schmidt, and he always wanted to play with the ball, and Markus Krosche and Enis Alushi were very good in midfield, and I had the opportunity to play in the full-backs because the right back and left back were often injured. I was happy that I wasn’t on the bench and could help the team; I think it’s always good to switch positions so that you get more experience and flexibility, and when it’s necessary, the coach can put you at right back or left back. But my position was in midfield: whenever I played there, I felt at home."
Leipzig's promotion years
Demme explained: "The first three years in Leipzig were unbelievable, with the promotion and also with the team, because everybody was a young player between 22 and 25. Everybody was hungry, and because of this, we had success. We needed two seasons to reach the first division. There was a lot of pressure on us after we stayed in the second division in our first 2. Bundesliga season, so being able to achieve promotion to the Bundesliga was the best experience of the three promotions and the best celebration."
His view on being captain
He told Flashscore: "I never wanted to be a captain, because captains need to speak a lot, and my way of playing was about doing the dirty work and following the leader. I never necessarily wanted to be the captain, but for sure, it was an honour to wear the armband and be the leader of such a nice team with players like Timo Werner and Emil Forsberg."
Final defeat and Bayern's standard
Demme said: "We were proud to have reached the 2019 final, but every defeat is heavy: if you nearly achieve the trophy and suffer a defeat, it is always difficult. Without Bayern, we might have won the league and the cup, but in Germany, you have to beat the best: you have to beat Bayern. The quality of a club like Bayern: there’s a huge gap between them and other clubs. Leverkusen managed to beat them to the Bundesliga title two years ago, but it’s very difficult to do so."