Clarification from the national coach
© Imago
National coach Julian Nagelsmann has reacted to allegations that he would unnecessarily put pressure on the Bayern professional Aleksandar Pavlovic, suffering from Pfeiffer’s fever, with regard to his World Cup chances. “I have to read a lot of insane things,” complained Nagelsmann before the quarter-final first leg in the Nations League on Thursday (8:45 p.m./ARD) in Milan against Italy.
What happened? In an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, Nagelsmann said that 20 -year -old Pavlovic had to be more playing at FC Bayern in order to continue playing an important role in the national team with a glance at 2026.
The national coach not only called the four -time international Pavlovic, but also Robert Andrich, who currently plays much less at Bayer Leverkusen than in the past master season. For all national players, operations in the club are always an important assessment basis. Nagelsmann had been criticized by some ex-professionals such as Markus Babbel or Olaf Bodden.
The national coach now explicitly declared Pavlovic, “because it is important to me that it doesn’t get in the wrong neck somehow.” In the “FAZ” interview, he made the statement that he had to play more. It was absolutely not related to the Pfeiffer glandular fever, which I also had and that is not a pleasure. “
“I’m not forcing him to play quickly, even though he is not healthy,” emphasized Nagelsmann. “Pavlo knows that too. My statement referred to the time before Pfeiffer’s glandular fever, when Pavlo simply didn’t have the season he needs at a young age to become an absolute regular.”
Nagelsmann: Sick Pavlovic should take all the time
He would “never push a player who is sick, that he has to play again to become a regular player. This is complete cheese,” the national coach was outraged by the appropriate assumptions. “Pavlo should take every time in the world, get well again and then collect the maximum season that somehow goes to continue his great development he took.” In 2024, he increased its market value from 2 million to 50 million euros one of the five most valuable German footballers. In the international comparison of the most valuable defensive midfielder, he is in the top 10.
Pavlovic had put a steep ascent to FC Bayern last season, which led him to the national team. Nagelsmann nominated the midfielder for the home European Championships last summer, who missed Pavlovic because of an almond operation. This season he was initially a regular at FC Bayern until a broken collarbone stopped.
DFB team: Goretzka replaces Pavlovic against Italy
After that, Pavlovic had a hard time finding his top shape. Leon Goretzka had used his failure to secure a regular place again in the midfield in Munich. The 30-year-old belongs to the DFB squad for the first time after 16 months of international break and replaces Pavlovic in a club colleague. According to the “Bild”, Goretzka should be in the starting line -up alongside Stuttgart’s Angelo Stiller (23).