"When I got up this morning, my bones were aching" - Ricardo Pietreczko tries to explain abject Aspinall defeat at PDC World Darts Championship

On Monday afternoon in London's Alexandra Palace, Germany's last World Darts Championship hopes came to a surprisingly clear end. Ricardo Pietreczko, who thrilled the German darts fans with a strong World Championship campaign, lost 0-4 to Nathan Aspinall in a strange match.

After the game, the 30-year-old volunteered to talk to the media and spoke about a game that he had surprisingly little influence on. "Today was one of those days right from the start when I thought, 'Phew, it's going to be difficult today. It sounds stupid coming from a 30-year-old, but I got up this morning and my bones were aching," said Pikachu, explaining his Round of 16 exit.

Unsurprisingly, the German-English duel also created a heated atmosphere in the Ally Pally audience. "I'd say the crowd was 75 percent pro-England today, but in the end it didn't matter because today just wasn't my day."

Nevertheless, Pietreczko was euphoric at the start of the duel when he stood on stage with Aspinall before the game and celebrated the Englishman's iconic walk-on: "Nathan Aspinall's walk-on is my girlfriend's favorite walk-on, so it's very difficult for me to switch off after the walk-on. But I didn't lose focus or concentration at that moment because you immediately concentrate on the game afterwards. The situation is immediately out of my head," said Pietreczko, describing the scene at the start of the round of 16, which was completely spontaneous.

Pikachu also commented on his opponent's statements, who described him as a "odd character" before the match: "I can actually understand that because I'm very reserved because I don't speak good English. That's why I can be perceived as a bit strange, but in the end I'm just me."

"Because I don't like flying, we stayed here in England from the 15th - it's just difficult to stay here for almost three weeks, partly because of the hard beds. I usually travel a lot, but this is something else. Staying in one hotel all the time is really difficult."

Nevertheless, the 30-year-old can look back on a strong World Championship in which he became the second German player in PDC history to reach the last 16. "I leave the Ally Pally as a round of 16 finalist and someone has to imitate me first. I'm satisfied - if it keeps going like this, we'll have a world champion in four years' time."

In his usual relaxed manner, Pietreczko explained that he will return to the practice board tomorrow: "Simply to practice for next year. We're flying home again on January 2nd - I've booked until the 2nd, it's a shame it didn't work out."