Yann SummerInter’s goalkeeper, gave a long interview to Blick’s microphones in view of his team’s debut Swiss at the European Championships in Germany. “Do I prefer Italian? No, not yet. It wouldn’t be a good interview (laughs, ed.). I prefer German, even though I already understand a lot of Italian. I’m taking lessons and can already speak a little. This is necessary because here at Inter everyone converses in Italian in any case you automatically learn everything that has to do with football on the pitch. Or when an opposing player surprises you during a corner kick : ‘Attention, the man behind!’ In case of emergency it can also be English or French. If I read the praises in the Italian newspapers I can’t even say it because I rarely read the newspapers like that self-protection.
Sommer then talks about entering the Nerazzurri changing room. “What if I introduced myself? Out of decency, let’s do this. But most people in Europe know each other. And the media talks so much about changing teams in advance that it’s not surprising when you actually arrive at that club – tells -. What if I did a welcome ritual? I had to stand on a chair and sing. This is now almost standard. There are also teams where you have to dance in front of other players. Which I think is almost worse (laughs, ed.). I always sing the same thing: ‘No Diggity’. Whether it’s embarrassing or not, this thing is a great thing. Everyone is laughing and in a good mood, you get into the team so quickly.”
“What surprised me most about Inter? The atmosphere in the stadium. I had already played at San Siro with my former club, Mönchengladbach, but in front of zero fans during the Covid pandemic. It was disheartening. So I didn’t know exactly what to expect in the stadium when we played the first home match against Monza. It all started outside when we went to the stadium on the team bus. There was a crazy atmosphere, thousands of fans crowded along the sides of the road and crowded in front of the entrance. When we arrived at San Siro it was a great emotion. This passion, this enthusiasm of the people! This blew me away – Sommer’s words -. Mönchengladbach also has some very passionate fans, true, however the enthusiasm in Milan is a little more extreme. Here people really live for football. And they prove it too. I have some Italian colleagues, I knew how revered the club was but experiencing it first hand is yet another thing. At Bayern Munich it was no different. This is also a club where everyone always expects the team to be at the top, top, top. If things don’t work, unrest quickly arises. The experience was formative and made me strong; it was a great challenge for me, but also for the team. Despite everything we became champions and this is one of the reasons why I moved to Milan with good feelings.”
“Do I like the city? I live a little outside the city with my family, but I’m always in the city – adds Sommer -. The Italians’ affinity for fashion is clearly visible on the street, and I like this. Likewise the food culture that is cultivated and the diverse selection of restaurants. And then of course the good weather. Is the Inter training camp in Appiano Gentile my second home? but it is definitely a good idea.There is a large dining room, with half a dozen chefs who prepare excellent dishes for us in collaboration with a very strict nutritionist.You can feel his passion for cooking.Here everyone has their own room, which can be decorated according to your wishes. I like staying here, the structure is very nice and gives you a nice feeling as soon as you arrive. I like to eat pasta, preferably buckwheat. I think the pesto with tomato is excellent. The first time I combined these two ingredients, Federico Dimarco looked at me amazed. Today he does exactly the same thing. For others it is even stranger that I eat pasta, vegetables and meat at the same time. This is almost an insult to their food culture. They eat meat without side dishes. This is very unusual for us Swiss.”
