Florian Wirtz could not have had a better reaction to his disappointing international trip.
Four days after his much-discussed early substitution against Belgium, the turbo playmaker shone in Bayer Leverkusen’s 3-0 win over FC Schalke 04 as if nothing had happened.
“That’s always the best thing: scoring a goal straight away,” said the delighted Bayer sporting director Simon Rolfes. “There are situations like that in football. It’s not a problem for Flo and he showed it again today.”
Wirtz was involved in almost every Leverkusen attack. After one or the other unsuccessful action in the initial phase, the 19-year-old improved enormously, distributed the balls and shone as a goalscorer himself in the interim 2-0.
For Wirtz, who had been injured for a long time, it was the first goal of the Bundesliga season after his cruciate ligament rupture – and of all things when, after being substituted by national coach Hansi Flick, quite a few experts were wondering whether the experience would set Wirtz back.
As usual, the exceptional talent held back verbally after his gala performance. Wirtz spoke about the team instead of himself. “We solved the task very well, we all worked very well from start to finish,” said Wirtz on Sky.
Praise from Bayer coach Alonso
In fact, two weeks after the 2-1 win against FC Bayern Munich, Bayer 04 again impressed with stability and attacking power. After four victories in a row, the Rhinelanders are back in the middle of the race for international places. With a win against Frankfurt on the Easter weekend, the Werkself can overtake Eintracht and move up to sixth place. Wirtz should then play a key role again.
“It will be important for our team to have a Flo hungry for goals,” said coach Xabi Alonso. Wirtz’ team-mates also raved about Schalke. “Everyone can see what they can do. I don’t have to say much,” said Jeremie Frimpong, who also played well and scored. “His individual quality is just fantastic. He brings a lot to the team and we’re very lucky to have him.”
Wirtz has everything a good game designer needs. Again and again he pulls himself to the goal, looking for the conclusion. With an impressive understanding of the situation and great accuracy, he also deploys his teammates. “He has shown that he is a central pillar of our game. He knows exactly where his team-mates are running and how they act,” said Rolfes. In the coming years, Wirtz should show this more and more often as a key player in the national team.