In the Nations League, the DFB team plays for the semi-finals against Italy. Germany doesn’t just want to win for sporting success.
The players of the German national team had found a new home in the recent past. After the European Championship in their own country, the DFB team continued to prepare for their tasks in the “Home Ground” in Herzogenaurach and no longer rely on campus in Frankfurt. But in front of the two quarter -finals in the Nations League, Julian Nagelsmann came up with something else. For a week the entourage stays in Dortmund.
Germany against Italy offers something special
Three days before the first leg in Milan, the players met and the staff in the hotel met L’Arivéewhich will only accommodate the German national team until after the second leg on Sunday (March 23, 2025). It was four months ago that the DFB team has completed a successful year 2024 with a 1-1 in Hungary. Although it was not crowned by the European Championship title this year (in the quarter-finals), but it managed that the national team has become popular and popular again.
With 3,500, an exceptionally high number of DFB fans travel to Italy, so many were far from the 2015 big tournaments in Scotland. The 63,000 tickets for the second leg were sold within an hour – Germany is back behind the team. If the opponent is also called Italy, especially. “This is a football classic, not a normal game. It’s about a lot. It’s about the final four, we would like to play in Germany, we have to turn off the Italians”said DFB sports director Rudi Völler.
Success would give Germany the final tournament
If the DFB team makes it, the final games of the Nations League are played in Germany-after the EM 2024 it would be a kind of mini home European Championship 2025, the games are to take place in Stuttgart and Munich. But Germany has to win for that. “Italy is difficult to play. They don’t allow little and are compact. They also have an outstanding trainer who sets the team well. A hard chunk”said Völler.
The first training session is available on Tuesday, it is also the premiere for Yann-Aurel Bisseck, the defender of Inter Milan has been nominated for the first time. And it is the return of Leon Goretzka. The midfielder of FC Bayern Munich worked back on his club and has made it back to the national team. Despite his abstinence, Goretzka played the fourth in the DFB squad with 57 international matches.
Italy’s sports director Buffon makes DFB team a favorite
After the training on Wednesday (also at 11 a.m.), the national team will go to Milan, where an opponent is waiting who is not as strengthened as the German team, but – as Völler said – is dangerous. “Italy has an ultra-competitive team with a clever, charismatic coach. Now in the two games against one of the strongest teams ever, to confirm the work of the past six months”said sports director Gianluigi Buffon.
The former world-class goalkeeper emphasized: “That does not mean that we have to beat Germany. It means to meet at the top level and eye level in the 180 minutes. That would be the most important knowledge.
Philipp Lahm: Support of the country “extremely important”
Whether these are games or really its views – Germany has earned with its achievements last year to go as a favorite in such a game (the Frenchman Francois Letexier will be in the first leg). It is about continuing the old flow, sporty and in terms of mood. The games against Italy are they “Next option”The former DFB captain Philipp Lahm said to inspire fans.
That the country is behind the team is “extremely important” And you have to “Work on it again and again”. The order for the DFB team, which Nagelsmann (extended at the beginning of the year his contract until 2028) led to old splendor again, so it is for several reasons that it prevails. For the mood, progress and a mini home European Championship.