"Changed" Franck Ribery looks to future
BERLIN: Bayern Munich's French star midfielder Franck Ribery vowed on Monday to bounce back after a disastrous 2010, which saw him embroiled in scandal off the pitch and underperforming on it.
Speaking to sports magazine Kicker, the 27-year-old attacking midfielder said he was "very happy" to put his annus horribilis behind him.
"It was a very hard year with many difficulties. But now a new one is starting," Ribery told the magazine from Bayern's training camp in Qatar.
"I will not be making again the mistakes I made in 2010. I learned a lot in 2010 and changed a few things," he said, citing, "the events of the World Cup, my injuries and my private life."
Beset by injuries, Ribery's form for club and country took a hit in 2010, culminating in France's farcical World Cup in South Africa where they failed to win a single match, scoring just once amid internal strife and player strikes.
For his club, Ribery clashed with coach Louis van Gaal, notably over a friendly game organised to help him regain fitness, where the Dutchman blasted him for a lack of effort.
And away from football, he became entangled in a sex scandal, charged with soliciting an under-age call girl.
But all that is behind him now, pledged the star. "I have changed. I have become more mature and have other priorities now.
"My family is more important to me now. It became clear to me in the past year that the glittering world of football has little to do with real life."
He has patched up his differences with van Gaal and said he was aiming for a Champions League triumph with Bayern and a major trophy with Les Bleus.
"The real Ribery is on his way back," he said.
Speaking to sports magazine Kicker, the 27-year-old attacking midfielder said he was "very happy" to put his annus horribilis behind him.
"It was a very hard year with many difficulties. But now a new one is starting," Ribery told the magazine from Bayern's training camp in Qatar.
"I will not be making again the mistakes I made in 2010. I learned a lot in 2010 and changed a few things," he said, citing, "the events of the World Cup, my injuries and my private life."
Beset by injuries, Ribery's form for club and country took a hit in 2010, culminating in France's farcical World Cup in South Africa where they failed to win a single match, scoring just once amid internal strife and player strikes.
For his club, Ribery clashed with coach Louis van Gaal, notably over a friendly game organised to help him regain fitness, where the Dutchman blasted him for a lack of effort.
And away from football, he became entangled in a sex scandal, charged with soliciting an under-age call girl.
But all that is behind him now, pledged the star. "I have changed. I have become more mature and have other priorities now.
"My family is more important to me now. It became clear to me in the past year that the glittering world of football has little to do with real life."
He has patched up his differences with van Gaal and said he was aiming for a Champions League triumph with Bayern and a major trophy with Les Bleus.
"The real Ribery is on his way back," he said.
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