When it became clear that I couldn't stay at Bayern I thought about going to play in Spain or Italy. Fiorentina came forward, they were looking for a striker, and everything happened very quickly.
As a young player, national duty always felt kind of like... a duty. It was always there, it was normal, it was part of the job.
Juventus made a big offer for me, I think it was around ??0 million. Stuttgart were thinking about it, but I was the one who declined. I thought it was better for me to stay there and grow as a player before making a big move.
I guess there are worse things than being compared to Messi but I don't look at what he is doing. I just try to give my best for my team.
Scoring a goal is an explosion of feelings. It's there immediately - bam! Before you kick the ball, you feel like you're 200 kilos. Then the ball leaves your foot, goes through the air and ripples the net. And for that moment, you're weightless.
Sometimes you'll go up against keepers like Casillas - the 'penalty killer,' as many of us call him. Other times, there's that one defender that, for 90 minutes, just destroys you. There is one in particular who will always stand out in my mind. Nemanja Vidic.
At one point, I asked myself whether I was having fun with the national team, or whether I was just out to convince critics.
As a striker, your job is mostly to forget. When you have someone like Vidic marking you, and it's misery for 89 minutes, all you have to do is forget everything. Forget the 89 minutes. Because in the 90th minute, you might finally get your chance. I have been pretty good at this in my career.
I have said that if I leave Bayern I will go abroad. Then came this interesting offer from Liverpool. I took the loan offer seriously and discussed it with my family and girlfriend because I just want to play. But Bayern gave me the impression that they see a future for me. And therefore a change was not an issue anymore.