Willi Orbán: Some call me Vilmos in the national team

– The last time you gave our portal an interview was before the Champions League semifinal against Liverpool. How was the match that ended with England's advancement?
– Liverpool deserved to make it to the top eight, but I felt bad for the first match, told our portal Willi Orbán, the 28-year-old center back for RB Leipzig and the Hungarian national team. – In the first half of that game, we didn't play worse than the opponent. At 0-0, Dani Olmo headed the ball to the post, then after halftime, we were two goals behind after two mistakes. Besides, I can't deny it that I was disappointed when it turned out I wasn't counted as a starter at the game. Every footballer wants to play against Liverpool and the Budapest venue was an extra motivation. Nevertheless, I accepted Julian Nagelsmann's decision and that he had other plans. In the rematch, we couldn't work off the disadvantage, we didn't have a chance to turn the game around. It has to be acknowledged that it was not our night, so Liverpool advanced by winning both games.

– Leipzig, after a two-goal disadvantage, was expected to play in a more-attacking spirit at the rematch. Didn't you want to take a risk or Liverpool didn't let the attack unfold?
– On one hand, we had too much respect for the opponent, and on the other hand, we didn't want to leave space for quick attackers like Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mané. We tried to maintain the balance between attack and defense, but then we couldn't put the opponent under pressure. The soldier is always smarter after the fight, so we could say that maybe we should've attacked more aggressively and pushed up our defense better, but these are not easy decisions when it comes to attacking the opponent full of legends.

– You reached the semifinals last season. How do you evaluate the relegation in the eighth finals now?
– After being in the top four, the expectation has obviously increased for ourselves, but the relegation from the eight finals is no means a disappointment. We advanced from perhaps the toughest group including PSG, Manchester United and Istanbul Basaksehir. Then, Liverpool awaited us in the top 16. The English team might not be in the best form right now, but they still remain one of the strongest teams in Europe with a huge international experience.

– You are five points behind Bayern München in the Bundesliga. Is it a lot or not?
– With only six games remaining and we are chasing Bayern München, the point difference is too much. Realistically, we would have a chance of winning the league if Bayern stumbled two or three times in the remaining rounds, but I see very little chance of that. Nevertheless, we would like to win the remaining games. If Bayern are to lose points, we will be on tap. However, it's important that we have a realistic look at our situation.

– You welcomed Bayern München without Robert Lewandowski on home grounds after the national team break. You had more positions, but the opponent won 1-0. Do you agree that that meeting was Leipzig's big chance?
– Yes, of course. We all knew the stakes of the game and, as in the first match against Liverpool, it all depended on small things, unfortunately in the opponent's favor once again. We had more opportunities to score, but we missed the last passes and lacked the killer instinct. After the match we were all disappointed, but we can learn a lot from games like this.

– Last Saturday, however, you won 4-1 at the home of Werder Bremen, which may be of great importance because at the end of April the German Cup semi-final will be played again against them. Are you expecting a similar match?
– No two matches are the same. That meeting will start from 0-0, but since we'll see each other again in two weeks, we wanted to show what we can do. We did it, we played really well, controlled the whole time, and we won a psychologically important victory with a perfect outcome. When two teams meet twice in a short period of time, memories are in the minds of the footballers. We'll see what the defeat triggers for the Bremer team, but we're preparing for the semi-finals in the same spirit. It's going to be a tough game, but we're going to do everything we can to get to the final and finally win a trophy.

– Do you still feel Leipzig's improvement is unbroken?
– I'm not the only one who feels that way, the results show that, too. With Julian Nagelsmann's arrival, our game has improved a lot. He is a coach from whom we can learn something new every day. Maybe this season we've been unlucky with the positions; we missed a lot of opportunities in important games. Our attacking line-up has amazing potential, but we still lack a finishing striker who scores 15 or 20 goals each season.

– The satisfaction seems to be mutual as the club announced last Friday that you had renewed your contract until 2025 and according to a clause, you could remain with the club after the end of your career.
– The clause is more of an option for now, so let's get back to that in four years. There may be another extension, or I may take advantage of the opportunity offered by the club. That pretty much means I could learn the role of a sporting director or a coach at Leipzig or another club in the Red Bull family, but that's really far away.

– Is it possible that you'll retire as a player from Leipzig?
– It is possible, and it's more likely after each contract renewal. The club really wanted me to stay and because I'm having a great time in Leipzig, we agreed quickly. I hope there are many beautiful moments to come.

– Besides Leipzig, you're also a key man in the Hungarian national team. Are you satisfied with the seven points you earned in the first three games of the World Cup qualifiers?
– I think so. It is fair to say that the progress we saw in the previous year was not broken, we sticked to the plan in all three games that we thank our recent successes to. When the national team members don't meet for a long time, it's always doubtful how they will succeed in the first match. For us, this test was the match against Poland where we could've won with a bit of luck, but in the end, it was a draw. We played with the right mentality, we even led twice, but the Polish national team showed how strong they are, and they have Lewandowski as an attacker who can flash at any time.

– Before the above-mentioned meeting, your mother's Polish ancestry and the possibility of playing in the Polish national team were in the talks in the media. Can we talk about it a little?
– Sure. My mother is a German citizen whose father was Polish. That's why asked the Polish authorities at the time if she could get Polish citizenship alongside the German. For some reason, it wasn't possible then. Since my mother is German and my father is Hungarian, playing for the Polish national team never came up.

– If you allow another personal question: according to Transfermarkt, you were born as Vilmos Tamás Orbán. Have you ever been called Vilmos or Tamás by others?
– This is an interesting story because I was never Vilmos Tamás Orbán. After I was born, my parents chose the Hungarian Vilmos and the German Thomas as first names, and the also Hungarian Orbán as the last name. These were on my documents. However, after my parents got divorced, I stayed in Germany with my mother who decided to change my name to Willi because the teachers and peers had difficulty pronouncing “Vilmosh.” They constantly called me “Vilmos.” So, now Willi Thomas Orbán is on my documents. Sometimes the national team players call me Vilmos, though, so the name hasn't completely disappeared.

– Have you thought about your next game with the national team?
– If I'm not mistaken, you're referring to the European Championships... I was pleased to read that the Hungarian Football Federation would like to host the games in front of as many spectators as possible. I don't know how many fans this will ultimately mean, after all, safety and health are the most important. I'm sure, though, that it will be one of the best moments of my career when I can represent Hungary in front of tens of thousands of spectators at the European Championships.

Translated by Vanda Orosz