Kevin-Prince Boateng has been speaking about his life at AC Milan and more in an interview with German magazine 11FREUNDE.

Kevin Prince Boateng, you are going into your third season at AC Milan. Do you feel at home already?

My big brother always says: People in Berlin are like chameleons that adapt to any environment. But the Italians have made my stay very easy and I know now when I say Milan I mean home.

How did Milan receive you on your arrival?

It is a great footballing city and it worked from the start. The people love me, they welcomed me with open arms.

Images from your acclaimed ‘Moonwalk’ presence in the Milan stadium at the championship celebration in 2011 went around the world.

My team mates call me ‘pop star’, because it happens every now and then, that people scream when they see me on the street. But it allows people to come closer to me too. I am sometimes at the cathedral on the way. I think people feel that I am not lifted.

There is enormous hysteria in Italy and as a result you now have two bodyguards

I do not have a bodyguard, but a driver who has experience with people and a little looking out for me. The people in Italy are crazy about football, that’s different from Germany. It’s not easy to go shopping. There are always people after me. But I appreciate it very much, because I’ve known the dark side and it’s a nice feeling to know that some people get a pose with you and their day is brightened.

Your career has experienced some ups and downs as one can imagine. You went to Milan in summer of 2010; a club packed with superstars like Andrea Pirlo, Ronaldinho, Gennaro Gattuso, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Did they provide a challenge for you?

My strength has always been that I’m not afraid. Of course, I had respect for these big names but I realized that I have a chance to assert myself. Like, I did not, but somehow it would work out.

Were you bothered by this?

No I wasn’t bothered at all. It is a great feeling to wear the Milan shirt. So you just get closer to the rest of the team-mates and develop a big character.

How did an experienced player Andrea Pirlo take your arrival?

Pirlo is a totally relaxed guy who takes any newcomer very nice, even if he is a 23-year-old like me. But of course there are others who behave differently.

Who are these others?

Gattuso is a tough guy sometimes. But again, it was a great feeling to train with players like Ronaldinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and sit with them in a cabin and compete for a place. As a result Ronaldinho lost his place in the team. And competition at this level is not easy at all. How players interact with each other depends on the individual character.

Do you think that you are too disciplined?

I’ve always been a leader in youth not because I said that I was the leader, it was just like that. The players look at me. I do not know if in the past it was always very smart to put me forward. But the eyes are on me. There have always been others who have screwed up, only with me it came out flat.

Tottenham manager Martin Jol had told you right at the beginning that you were not in his plans.

It was like a slap in the face. At that time I did not understand things yet, not even what he was trying to elicit from me. So I had drawn the wrong conclusions.