Bayer 04 Football School: Mukiele and Lomb bombarded with questions at kids press conference

The big question of "Ronaldo or Messi?" came straight away at the beginning. However, Mukiele and Lomb quickly agreed on the Argentinian. There were gasps around the room when Mukiele talked about playing with another famous star at Paris Saint-Germain: Kylian Mbappé (now at Real Madrid). Which left the question: "Mbappé or Haaland?“ The Frenchman obviously went for his compatriot.

The pair also revealed who their idols are. For Mukiele, as a defender there was no one better than Sergio Ramos, while Lomb named Manuel Neuer. But on the follow-up question of "Hradecky or Neuer?", the 31-year-old remained faithful to his goalkeeping colleague and Werkself captain Lukas Hradecky.

Mukiele above the clouds

Talking of team-mates, the curious children were also interested to know which players in the squad the pair get on with best. Lomb answered diplomatically: "The nice thing about is is that we're very harmonious as a team and all get on well with each other. But I spend the most time with Rob [Andrich] and Jonas [Hofmann]." For Mukiele, Jerry [Frimpong] is his closest confidant and also works hard as the DJ in the dressing room, as the 26-year-old revealed.

DJ, footballer... steward: if Mukiele hadn't become a professional footballer, that would've been his dream career, he explained: "I like flying and I like learning lots of new languages, so I can imagine that I would've done that."

up close to the pros

In the autograph round that followed, no wish was left unfulfilled. Selfies were taken, shirts and boots signed, and one or two extra questions were answered. Mukiele, for example, spoke to the kids about his hobbies and revealed that he regularly speaks to his mother on the telephone.

A budding young goalkeeper even got some tips from Lomb on positioning. After around an hour, it was onto the next engagement for the Werkself duo. For the kids of the Bayer 04 Football School, there was still a stadium tour, including a viewing of the trophies from the double season, on the schedule.