depression
Bastian Schweinsteiger on ex-teammate Deisler: “It was difficult to help him”
Bastian Schweinsteiger (left) approached the illness of his former Bayern team-mate Sebastian Deisler (archive photo from 2006)
© Carmen Jaspersen / Picture Alliance
In an interview, soccer player Bastian Schweinsteiger reports how difficult it was for him to deal with the mental illness of his former teammate, Sebastian Deisler.
Former soccer world champion Bastian Schweinsteiger was affected by the illness of his former Bayern teammate Sebastian Deisler. It was “bad” back then, said Schweinsteiger, 37, in an interview with the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”. “Sebastian was always behind me on the bus, I was always very close to him and you noticed it long before the public knew about it.”
Bastian Schweinsteiger sees “no dark sides” in his own life
Deisler used to be a national player and was considered a future superstar. Due to a depression, he ended his career in January 2007 when he was still a professional at Bayern, at the age of only 27. “It hurt my heart because he was my teammate and you saw how much he loved playing football. But he couldn’t do it anymore and it was difficult to help him.”
When asked whether he had talked to Deisler about it, Schweinsteiger replied: “I was still young, I couldn’t be his soul-provider, that was Uli Hoeneß.”
Schweinsteiger sees “no dark sides” in his own life, as he said. “The darkest moment of my life was when we and Bayern Munich lost the Champions League final to Chelsea in 2012 at home in Munich.”