With 383 Bundesliga outings under his belt, the midfielder is the oldest and most experienced member of a youthful VfB squad as the start of the 2020/21 Bundesliga campaign approaches. In his first big interview as captain, Castro opened up about…
… Pellegrino Matarazzo’s decision:
“We talked about it the day before our friendly against Bochum at the training camp and he asked me if could see myself as captain. The coach then told the rest of the squad during a meeting the next morning. I didn’t make a big speech because from there we went straight to the game. I’ll organise a team evening in the coming weeks and make my debut as captain.”
... being captain for the first time in his career:
“Obviously it’s a big honour for me to be able to lead the side out onto the pitch. I’m happy the team accepted me so readily. I’m delighted that the coach has not only put his trust in me to lead the team, but also in my footballing ability.”
… his style of leadership as captain:
“As captain, first and foremost you have to play well. You also need to be able to find the right words in difficult moments. There’ll be a lot more tasks on top of that over the course of the season, and I’ve already taken on several of them anyway in the last few years as one of the team’s leaders. The experience I’ve gained from playing a lot of matches in the Bundesliga and in European competition help me a lot with that. I’m not the kind of person to make big, loud speeches. I’m more technical, thinking things through.”
… the potential in the team:
“We’ve got a lot of talented players in the squad and we integrated a lot of youngsters last season. On top of that, hardly any players left the club this summer. All of the boys give it 100 per cent, they listen and take on board what the coach and the more experienced players say. I can see huge potential for the boys to kick on massively with their development this year. They bring fresh impetus, and they aren’t burdened by expectation either. If we can also realise that we have to stick together as a group – and actually manage to do that – then I’m very optimistic that we can have a good season. It’s important that we believe in ourselves and don’t start to panic if things don’t go too well at times.”