Your attention is the essay of PSG midfielder and Germany's Julian Draxler for The Players' Tribune.

I must tell you this story about my grandmother and the World Championship toy, because it will explain a lot. Probably, I would need 100 pages to describe my hometown and my family, but if I tell you this story, you will understand it completely.

After we won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, I returned home to Germany to celebrate with my family, and of course I visited my grandmother. My mother and I arrived at her house in Gladbeck, and brought a small toy of Julian Draxler. After we won the World Cup 2014, some toy company made three-dimensional printed figures of all players of the national team, you know?.

We thought that my grandmother would think it was funny. We go into her house, which smells just like the last 20 years, she embraces me, she is so happy and glad that I'm back. Then we put a small figure on the kitchen table and say: "Look, grandmother, it's me. Beautiful, is not it? ".

She looks at the toy, then at me. She is embarrassed. She smiles and says: "Oh, very beautiful, yes!".

She absolutely does not understand why anyone should make a figure of her grandson. In fact, it does not represent how important the victory at the World Cup. She always said to me: "I do not understand why you have to go to the other end of the world, just to play in a football match. Why can not you play at home in the garden, like you did when you were a kid? We have soccer balls! ".

I answered: "Grandma, but we played at the World Cup.

And she said: "Yes, but we miss you" It was funny. For her, everything is simple: I went to Brazil, and then returned home. She just wanted to know how I was doing, and if I ate, then everything is fine.

We made a general photo with a Draksler toy at the kitchen table, after which I sent it to Instagram. At night, I flipped through the comments and noticed one, like: "Hey, buy your new grandmother a new kitchen! Come on, man!".

And this, indeed, is true, the whole kitchen of my grandmother since the 1960s. I'm not sure that such ovens, like hers, are still sold. People do not understand how she lives in the same house for 50 years and refuses to change anything in it. My whole family is from Gladbeck and Gelsenkirchen, so I have a special connection with these cities. People living here do everything their own way. Let's just say my grandmother does not care about your comments in Instagram.

I still feel nostalgic about the house. I grew up in Schalke's matches with my father, everyone in our family was huge, huge fans of this club. Great! As a child, I had one dream: to try on my Schalke uniform and perform in front of my family. My father supported me and did everything possible to achieve this dream. When in 11 or 12 years I played for the youth team of Schalke, I felt the word I was already a professional. Despite such a young age, the pressure is colossal. If we lost the match against Dortmund on Saturday, and I did not play the best, I could sit in my room all Sunday, pondering what I did wrong, and how to play the right way next time.

I do not know how in other countries, but in Germany or at least in Gelsenkirchen, I think you should be obsessed with football in order to succeed. For there are so many good players. It's funny that my grandmother is not interested in football at all. When I went to a tournament in Munich, she thought, "Julian, why do you go so far? Why can not you play in the garden like before?". Is not it funny?.

However, my dream was not to play in the garden. My dream is to play for Schalke. When I was 16 years old, the coach of the youth team said: "In two days you will go to the training camp together with the first team. They want to look at you, you have a chance ".

In truth, when it comes to football, I'm not nervous. But this is not the case ... I went to the locker room, and knew that there was Raul. What will I tell him? I'm still so young. For me it was like meeting with God.

I asked my father: "I'll go to the locker room, he'll see me, what will I have to say? Hello, Raul?". This does not sound very good. Maybe, "Hello, Mr. Raul?".

Finally, we decided, I'll make it much easier: I come up, shake hands and say: "Hello, I'm Julian. Nice to meet you". Everything is simple. Be cool.

It was an incredible day when I finally shook hands with Raul. I do not even remember what I said.. All I remember is that my hand was very cold ... I still love Schalke, I love Gelsenkirchen. Without what I learned in this club, with Raul and other incredible players, I probably would not even have dreamed about the 2014 World Cup. When I was invited to the German national team in the summer, it was one of the most surreal days in my life. It was very unexpected. Oliver Bierhoff comes, sits down with me and says: "So, what number do you want?".

I said that? ".

Birkhoff: "What number do you want?".

I did not know if he checked me. I did not believe till the end. I said: "The last. I'll take the last free ".

Oliver just smiled, and the next day Joachim Leo told me that I would be in the 2014 World Cup.

When in the final of the 2014 World Cup we beat Argentina, it was my answer to my grandmother's question - why do I travel around the world to play football ....