Tim Borowski was bid farewell at the last match of the Bundesliga season against Schalke, ending a 15-year era as SV Werder player and seeing the final Green-Whites player leave who won the double. The 32-year-old "Boro" met up with WERDER.DE at Jürgenshof restaurant, where he signed his first amateur contract, to talk about old memories and review old times.

Part 2

Tim, your head coach at the start and now has been Thomas Schaaf. Can you describe your relationship with him?
Tim Borowski: Thomas Schaaf was always my absolute supporter and challenger. Because he knows me so well he also always knew which screws to turn to get me relaxed or push me. I can still remember when I was at my tryout training in fall 1995 in Bremen. Back then he was head of the amateur and youth departments. After the session, he asked me in the changing room if I wanted to play with Werder. I didn't wait very long and said "yeah" immediately. So we know each other actually longer than since 1996.

There was one year in your career in which your head coach was not Thomas Schaaf - your season with Bayern Munich. Looking back, was it a mistake to have gone to Munich?
Tim Borowski: Actually, I didn't play that bad of a season. And it was a good experience to have - especially for my later life and the family. I also experienced a lot there.

One highlight in your career must have been the 2006 World Cup in your home country. What memories do you still have of the "Summer Fairytale"?
Tim Borowski: That was a very challenging and intensive time and a wonderful time. One time I said to Per Mertesacker, it can't be that we spend six weeks in the hotel. Then we drove around Berlin for two hours in the evening in a car from our sponsor. It was a dream. We couldn't believe what we saw. We saw what kind of euphoria was overtaking the country.

Those are all very nice memories. What will you miss the most from this time?
Tim Borowski: I know what I absolutely will not miss - the training camps (laughs). No, seriously. There were so many great moments that I cannot say now what I will miss. But I think that it will be the competition on the weekend, the travelling that is very interesting, the full Weser Stadium, the time with the guys in the changing room, the games we play. I will probably even miss the training because we are actually playing less and less football.