In the choice of his pronouns for the analysis of the game that has just ended, Axel Witsel had not yet arrived in the approaching future. “We collect too many goals this season, as in the previous one,” the Belgian evaluated the 3: 4 defeat against VfL Bochum and concluded: “This is something we have to improve in the coming season.”

We? The farewell of the midfielder was actually decided in view of the expiring contract. A change of heart? No, Witsel reveals with a smile: “I say ‘we’ because I’m still here. But everyone knows that I will not be there.”

Nevertheless, the 33-year-old was also noticed by the frustration with all the problems of the current season. “We were surprised that we could have prevented the first goal. After that, we came back, and yet we lost. That is crap, especially in a derby,” he said and demanded: “It is not just the defender, everyone has to defend, started at the very front. ” And: “We should have scored more goals, that’s very disappointing.”

Because Witsel may not doubt the basic orientation: “We are an offensive team, we score a lot of goals,” he says, albeit “sometimes with too much risk”. But that is “no excuse, that has to be improved”. The following applies: “There are only two games left. We will work well and then a look at the coming season has to go.”

Witsel between joy and grief

It will be the first since 2017/18 in which it will no longer appear in the center. “Our common story will end against Hertha on the last match day,” he announces: “I am sad that I leave the club, I have a lot of friends and great teammates here. That was four years of my life, that’s a lot.” So long he was only at Zenit St. Petersburg and Standard Liège. “The life of a footballer” is, and yet: “I had the same feeling when I left my home club at the time. I’m looking forward to the last game, but I will also be really sad.”

And then? Witsel sees himself “at the level” for a great sporting challenge, a return home is not an issue: “I don’t go back to Belgium. Not yet.”