Andre Silva: "I love playing in the Bundesliga!"

Silva, 24, scored three goals in his first four Bundesliga appearances for Frankfurt, but fitness-related form troubles meant he only added a fifth four months later in the Matchday 21 win over Augsburg.

The Portugal international spoke to bundesliga.com about playing in Germany's top flight, Eintracht's blistering start to 2020 and the UEFA Euro 2020 finals...

bundesliga.com: Is the Bundesliga starting to see the real Andre Silva?

Andre Silva: "Yes, it's true that it was good in the beginning because I started to play and start scoring. After that I had some bad injuries, but I think I'm going in the right direction again now, I’m feeling good, I'm working near to my best. Every day that passes feels better than the other days. So, I'm feeling very good."

bundesliga.com: What's helping to make you feel stronger again?

Silva: "What makes me strong? I think it's the pieces of training that I've been doing, like mentally and physically. I always try to go to the gym to not have injuries but maybe I did something wrong to have some injuries. It happens in football. But I'm feeling good, mentally and physically now and I'm feeling my best."

bundesliga.com: Frankfurt have won three and drawn one of their last four - what's that down to?

Silva: "Football is too difficult to explain. That's why everyone loves football. But what can I say? It's like after the difficult matches and the losses that we had, we spoke together and we tried to find the best way to fix things. Since Christmas, I think we've been in good form, in a good way and we are training hard. All the players with all the staff, we're going in the same direction and trying to fight for Eintracht. We're positive now."

bundesliga.com: Did the winter training camp in Florida, USA help?

Silva: "I think it's always good because we spend the most time together and can create more chemistry within the team, with the training, with every moment. I think it was important because if someone offered us the chance to reach this many points in these few games after the way we played in the first half of the season, of course, we say yes and sign right away. So, I think we're going in the right direction."

bundesliga.com: Do you think the switch from a three to a four-man defence is a reason, too?

Silva: "I think the coach always tries the best for the team. He looks forward for our best and sometimes he changes the strategy with four defenders and one striker, sometimes it changes depending on the other team and depending on our best performance. So, it's his job and I think he's doing well now in the beginning. I hope that we, the players and the staff, can keep working as well as we did at the beginning."

bundesliga.com: How has the change in formation impacted your game personally?

Silva: "I think it depends on the players, depending on the mentality of the team. It's not depending on me. I'm the striker, I don't know if we have to play with four or three defenders. It's not depending on me. I try to do my job, I'm not trying to get the defenders to score because it's not my job like…I don't have the job of the defenders, I have the job of the strikers. If I do my job, I make the job of the defenders easier. So, we're a team, we work for the good of the other players and that's what we do."

bundesliga.com: What do you expect from the upcoming game against Borussia Dortmund?

Silva: "Of course, we expect a difficult match because Dortmund isn't easy. We had the chance to play in the first half here at home. I had the chance to play and it wasn't easy, of course. But of course, we go with all our strengths and we'll try our best and of course, we want the three points. But it'll be hard and we have to give all the best."

Watch: Silva scored his first Frankfurt goal in the reverse fixtures with BVB!

bundesliga.com: What's your role in the Frankfurt attack?

Silva: "As a kid, I liked to play football, I like to help my team and I like to - at the end of the game - feel important to the team, that I helped the team to win and not lose. My job at the moment, like a striker, is to score goals, to gain the ball in the air and to protect the ball in the front, so my teammates come more forward. So, I think it's my job. But the most important in the final is the three points or the winning."

bundesliga.com: How have you settled in Germany after playing in Italy and Spain?

Silva: "It means a lot because it's one more league. I already played in four different leagues in four different years. So, it's not easy to settle, it's hard but I think it makes me a better player, a better man. I think at the start of my journey I had to grow up, I had to try all the stuff to make me a better player. So, I think these adventures like in the Bundesliga and the other leagues that I play, it makes me a better player and a better human, as I said. That's what I'm looking for, to make me the best player I can."

bundesliga.com: What are your plans for the future?

Silva: "I have a dream of course. I'll try to be the best striker of all time but it's too soon to speak about this. I'm at the beginning of my journey. Like I said, every day I'm trying to be the best player I can and the best person I can. It's too soon to speak about that. I will try my best and let's see what happens."

bundesliga.com: Can you imagine staying in the Bundesliga when your loan ends?

Silva: "Yes, of course, because I love playing here. I feel good playing here. It's not easy in the beginning because it's a different language, different people, different culture, everything. The people, the rules, everything isn't easy. I think it'll be easier for me if I stay, for example, two years in the same league. Like everyone says, a hard life is what makes me a better person and the hard moments are what make me grow up. So, I feel happy for having this opportunity, for not having an easy life because if that happens, it feels like a little bit boring. So, I'm happy to have these hard adventures and I hope I become a better player than before."

bundesliga.com: How did you first get into football?

Silva: "I think I became a football player, in the beginning, because of my parents because they took me to play, of course. But after I became a football player because of my strength and the most important thing that I had was not giving up. I try my best and I try so that football helps me become a better person and a better football player. What can I say? It's what I make for a living, it's my life, it's what I love and it's the reason I wake up every day and I put all my strength here."

bundesliga.com: Portugal face Germany and France in the groups at this summer's Euros. What are your thoughts on the draw?

Silva: "It's always possible, but it's always hard. I think our group is one of the most difficult groups that we could get. But we Portuguese, we feel good and we feel the strength of the people, every Portuguese person. We feel that we're great players. We'll try our best and it's too soon to speak about that. But we'll train and we'll work like always."

bundesliga.com: Portugal are the defending champions - what does that mean to you?

Silva: "It means a lot because it wasn't easy and we're a small country and it's not easy. It shows that we have a big heart and we're capable of fighting, so I think it was very good for us and gave us a lot more strength that we have."