National coach Julian Nagelsmann was pleased that World Cup candidates from the U21 national team were again playing important roles in the fight for the European Championship ticket. Bayern jewel Lennart Karl’s soaring continued with the next goal, Nicolo Tresoldi demonstrated his goalscoring qualities, captain Tom Bischof also impressed in the next mandatory win after his hat-trick – and Said El Mala, who had already been called up to the A team, shone in an unusual manner.
Di Salvo doesn’t want to be a brake
“I’m definitely not slowing anyone down because everyone should go their own way,” said U21 national coach Antonio Di Salvo. “I’m honestly not afraid of losing them all. If that’s the case, then I’m happy for every single player who makes it to the top.”
Bayern shooting star Karl initiated the 2-0 (1-0) win against Georgia with the important opening goal on Tuesday. Tresoldi from FC Brugge, who has always been associated with the Italian national team, increased the score to 2-0.
In the table of the European Championship qualifying group, this still only means second place behind Greece, against whom the programmed final game for group victory is approaching on March 31st. The new year begins four days earlier with a home game against Northern Ireland.
Example Woltemade
Di Salvo looks back on a positive 2025, in which not much was missing from the European Championship title. “I think it was a good year. We were in the European Championship final and I think that a lot of players have also developed,” said the 46-year-old. The prime example is Nick Woltemade. The U21 leader of the European Championship in the summer recently emerged as an important goalscorer under Nagelsmann. Who follows? Karl? El Mala? Or someone completely different?
Di Salvo slowed down on the hype surrounding his two Bundesliga novices. Both Karl and El Mala still have room for improvement, said the national coach. The game in Tbilisi would have shown that again, in which the two of them didn’t want to succeed in everything. The fact that El Mala shone as a preparer with his head surprised him himself. “I’m not actually designed to extend balls with my head,” said the Cologne native on Sat.1. “Today it worked, I’m happy about that.”
Short springboard
While the 19-year-old is still waiting for his first goal for the U21s, Karl scored three times in two games. “Overall, we can be happy that we have such a boy in Germany with such quality,” said Di Salvo. Nagelsmann can also be happy about that. “The stepping stone to the senior national team is short, the teams are close to each other,” said U21 captain Bischof.