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I last played in Dubai in the summer of 2009 and it was still over 40 degrees in the evening. It was extremely exhausting and absolute madness.
As a full back, your role is just as much in playing in midfield, getting forward and creating chances, as it is stopping them at the other end.
It's our responsibility as experienced and successful players to manage our powers in order to be able to give 100 per cent in the right moments.
Any business or club has to have a hierarchy. Everybody needs to know and understand his role in the overall structure. Bayern Munich is no different.
AC Milan would never have been the same club without Paolo Maldini or Franco Baresi and they certainly would have never had the same amount of success.
If you want to measure yourself with Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester United, you, as Bayern Munich, need a philosophy. That must be the aim of the club.
I've practically grown up with FC Bayern Munich since the age of 11. In my case, a talent scout noticed me when I was playing for a local youth team at Gern in Munich.
To achieve success in this game you need specific talents and attributes. But we also have to adapt to the fact that we work in the public eye, with all its pros and cons.
As a young footballer I used to look up to a number of stars for inspiration and I understand what Bhaichung must have done for all young Indians aspiring to be footballer.
Big teams need a core of players who have their roots at their clubs, who grow with their clubs and who embody the culture. Representing it on the pitch and outside as well.
When I think back to the 2006 World Cup on home soil, we came close but nobody really expected us to get very far. We simply lost to a better team and Italy went on to win it.
I've always said I prefer playing on the right. But I can play at a top level on both sides so I'm happy to play wherever the manager thinks it will bringing the team success.
At the start of every season, I always asked myself - am I meeting my own standards? Can I still do it? I didn't want to come to the conclusion that I couldn't during a season.
My first club was FT Gern. I joined through my parents and friends. My father played for them and a friend from nursery school took me to training once. I was five at the time.
I consider it a privilege and duty to pass on the experience and knowledge I have accumulated in 20 years of experience at club and national team level with Bayern and Germany.
We practically only practiced fitness under Klinsmann, there was very little technical instruction and the players themselves discussed the way they would play a game before the match.
I'm lucky to have played two different positions. But of course the experience I gained as a full back - knowledge of defending, and taking up the right positions, helps me as a midfielder.
Every single player has to take responsibility for what they do. Look at the Manchester United team that won the Champions League in 2008, they didn't have a 'leader' like Roy Keane any more.
History shows that it is incredibly tough for a defender to be named Footballer of the Year because over the course of a year there is normally always a forward who steals the headlines up front.
Why was Effenberg a leader, because he was outspoken? Or because he had a certain presence on the pitch? When that's the criteria, OK, then maybe I have a different definition of what a leader is.
Cruyff's idea was, quite literally, to play football - nothing more, nothing less. His idea of how football should be played was based not on controlling the opponent, but on the ball and the game.
Anybody who has played with Mesut will tell you how intelligent he is as a player. His vision is probably the best I have ever seen and that is why it is so important to have the right striker ahead of him.
I experienced how Pep Guardiola worked every day. He had football on his mind round the clock: 'What system does the opponent like to play? How do I want to set up my team, who do I want in which position?'
For me it's more difficult to play against the quicker wingers, but for the team it's perhaps more difficult to face players that are good passers, because one through ball can take the whole team out of the game.
Maybe modern tactics mean that making the switch from defence to midfield is easier. Many years ago, full backs were more limited - you were just supposed to defend, and it didn't matter if you could get forward too.
We have always found it easier, and still do, when the opponent plays football as well, when they don't just think in defensive terms, don't just sit inside their penalty box. It's just nicer when the opponent plays football.
I have climbed every step of the football ladder, from kicking a ball about in Munich's Olympic Park to becoming a junior at Bayern, signing professional terms, establishing myself in the first team and taking the captain's armband.
Felix Magath works with pressure. At first, we didn't know where we stood with him. That prompted the players to give their best because they wanted to play, but after a while the players knew where they stood and Magath no longer received the same effect.
The key is developing your game in both directions: in the build-up, joining the attack at the right moment and also in defence. You have to win the one-on-one situations and need the required pace and technique. These are the decisive factors for a defender.
When I played for Stuttgart, I met Manchester United and Chelsea. With United, I immediately think of the duels with Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes and with Chelsea, it was John Terry. Those players are symbols of their clubs and the success they had at that time.
You can never know if there will be a second Cruyff, someone with a great personality who can grow up and make it into the squad of the club they love. But what is certain is that, in the Champions League, there will be big clubs producing these players forever.
We make adjustments and changes before and sometimes also during the games in order adapt to the opposition. The manager will, for example, tell the striker to make different runs or position the central midfielders slightly differently in relation to each other.
The abolition of the double sanction for a foul in the box is a welcome change. There are times that you cannot help but stop your opponent in the box, with your momentum forcing you to make a challenge. Fouls can't be avoided in that situation but your intention was fair.
Many great teams have players who have come through the youth system or have been at the club for a long time as their captains. I'm thinking of Steven Gerrard at Liverpool, John Terry at Chelsea, Raul at Real Madrid, as well as Puyol at Barcelona and Gary Neville at Man United.
Looking back at my matches since 2002, there is one main criterion for me which marks a club which is successful in the long-term: big players, who have grown with their clubs, whose names are tied to the success and who have a 100 per cent identification with the team, the club and its history.
I have always enjoyed thinking about playing patterns and I will undoubtedly continue to do so in front of the TV but to become a coach, to be thorough in football at all times, to prepare matches and training... I cannot imagine that I would find pleasure there and pleasure is essential in football.
Pep is a super coach! He is excellent. He is the best at analysing an opponent and the concept of a game. I don't know what impact he had on German football, but he left a mark on all of us at Bayern because of how he analysed and educated the players in each position and the way he taught us to play.
They're fighting for the championship, that's not a coincidence: I believe they have developed as a team. They've become much stronger, the squad is more balanced. And they still play the way Arsenal always play. They want to have the ball, they like playing it short, and they have outstanding individuals.
We have big goals at Bayern and always want to go as far as possible in each competition and win silverware. But it is great to have won the World Cup. You are a world champion for your entire life. A lof of people talk about it and it remains very special. But it's not like I think about the World Cup each morning I wake up.
I joined Bayern at the age of 11, and from then on it was all about being up to the competition. It doesn't matter who you face, you are always the favorite. You learn this at a young age. And this continues throughout your career at Bayern Munich, you are always the favorite or one of the favorites in every competition you are involved in.