When Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt meet in the Bundesliga, Florian Wirtz and Mario Götze also meet. The two exceptional players stand out clearly at their clubs – and are very similar.
Peter Bosz will probably switch on the television at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon (08.04.2023). On the one hand, the former Bayer 04 Leverkusen coach should have time right now because he was with Olympique Lyon has been on leave and has not yet accepted a new engagement. On the other hand, the 59-year-old is a great fan of Florian Wirtz’s football skills.
Back in October 2020, Bosz valued the 19-year-old so much that he wanted to promote his special talent under all circumstances – and even waived Mario Götze’s commitment to do so. “He wanted to come to Leverkusen, but we also have young Florian Wirtz running around in the position.”Bosz told the newspaper “De Telegraaf” at the time.
Wirtz had just turned 17 at the time. Götze, now 30 years old, then moved to Eindhoven for two years before signing with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Eleven years age difference
Wirtz and Götze meet in the Bundesliga on Saturday. With their extraordinary skills, both can ensure that their clubs can achieve their goals for the season, international competition, ideally the Champions League.
Götze and Wirtz separate eleven years of age difference. Half an eternity in professional football with its rapid changes. And yet the two exceptional players are similar in many areas. Because the game has always been based on fundamentals that have hardly changed over time.
Melange at the highest level
It doesn’t matter whether it’s Diego Armando Maradona, Lionel Messi, Mario Götze or Florian Wirtz. They all share the ability to interpret football as an inner strength, as a natural ability. They all easily lose their footing, for which others have to invest many hours of training in order to never radiate the lightness and naturalness that only these natural talents have.
Wirtz and Götze started at a high level early on. Before his 20th birthday, Wirtz scored 14 times in the upper house, Götze once twelve times. Absolute top values that provide information about the special talent of the two.
It is the mixture of the many important footballing elements that reflect the special nature of these exceptional talents. Aspects such as technique, speed of action, understanding of the game, spatial behavior, but also the will to win and unrestrained ambition form one melange at the highest level, which is only very rarely found.
High (expectation) pressure
“Mario is a very calm, pleasant young man who has incredible footballing talent”, said Oliver Glasner when Götze signed. Since then, his central midfielder has been an integral part of the Frankfurt starting XI. “Our game is different with him.”said ex-Bayer sports director Rudi Völler early on about Götze’s younger pendant landlord
But there are also the less glamorous factors in these particular players’ careers. Probably the biggest problem: Since the beginning of their careers, there has been a lot of pressure (expectations) on both of them. In the meantime, Götze seemed to break down and could no longer regularly show his talent for a while – also due to a metabolic disorder.
Wirtz fights back
The mature idol has apparently completely processed this episode and can concentrate fully on football again. Comparable problems have not played a role for Wirtz so far, even though he has just recovered from a severe cruciate ligament injury in his knee and is about to reach his old, high level.
In any case, Oliver Glasner knows who he will be dealing with on Saturday. “He’s one of the greatest German talents because he brings a lot – playfulness, goal threat, creativity, diligence. He’s just a great player.”, said the Frankfurt coach. Of course he could have meant Götze by that.