FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Sports

Jerome Boateng on Beefing with his Brother and Becoming a Political Flash Point

We sat down with Jérôme Boateng and got him to open up about some of the more formative moments of his career.

As a kid, he grew up in a different area than his brothers and learned a rougher style of play with older players. Watching how good his brothers were on the left foot, and realizing how bad he was on his, literally made him cry in a corner. Then he made it a point to get better, and it helped him develop into a professional and German national team member.

That sibling friction would come back into the fold when his brother Kevin-Prince Boateng took out the German captain and a "misunderstanding" as Jérôme put it, lead to a public feud between the brothers.

There's lots more in there, including his dustup with german politician who said no one wanted to be his neighbor.