Julian Draxler: 'A lot of good things to come'

Julian, what does winning the French title mean to you?
"It's very important, because it's our work every day that enables us to win the league title. We did that very well this year, even if you have to forget about the last few games. When you're 20 points clear of second place, it's always difficult to deal with the end of the season and always wanting to win. But we had the best team this year and deserve our title."

We tend to forget, but the team ended with 91 points and 105 league goals…
"Modern-day football is like that. You win something yesterday and everyone has already forgotten by tomorrow. People have spoken a lot about the five matches we lost and not much about the start of the season, even though we won 14 games in a row and no-one could beat us. It's very important not to forget that, because everyone wants to beat Paris Saint-Germain. When teams play against us, they give everything. It's the game of the year for them. So it's difficult to stay competitive every day, in every training session, in every game. I can understand that some people criticise Paris Saint-Germain, but you also have to have some respect for what we have done this year."

What stands out for you from the start to the season?
"It was very difficult because all the players came back at different times. Some had longer holidays than others. They didn't prepare normally, because a player should have six weeks of pre-season training. Some came back just three or four days before the first league game. That shows just how difficult it was to string all those wins together. Of course, we have a great team with some fantastic players, but it's not easy to win every match. We worked a lot and those wins made us very happy."

Have we seen the best of Julian Draxler at Paris Saint-Germain?
"Not yet. I hope there will be a lot of good things to come. To be honest, I had quite a few difficulties at the start of the season. I had just had a very bad World Cup and was very disappointed. A new coach came in and I absolutely wanted to show that I deserved to be a first-team regular. At the start it really wasn't easy, but little by little I got into my stride. The coach showed a lot of faith in me and he was very happy with my performances. I felt very good up until the game against Manchester United, during which I got injured and was out for four weeks. After that, I wasn't happy with my performances during the last few weeks, like all the team actually. We did our best, but we're not machines. It's difficult to be at your best in every game."