Record national player Lothar Matthäus follows the international double pack of the DFB selection with great interest. After beating Israel he found words of praise for a debutant. On the other hand, he was critical of the performance of returnee and ex-BVB professional Julian Weigl.
Julian Weigl had to wait five years for this next chance in the jersey of the German national team. The former midfielder at Borussia Dortmund had put himself back in the limelight with strong performances for his club SL Benfica from Portugal and was allowed to audition for national coach Hansi Flick.
The 26-year-old, who is surprisingly in the quarter-finals of the Champions League with the Lisboners, acted alongside Ilkay Gündogan in central midfield against Israel from the start. According to Lothar Matthäus, Weigl was not able to use his chance, as he wrote in his column on “sky” explained.
“Perhaps a little more could have come from Weigl if you get the chance again after so many years,” said the 61-year-old. In fact, Weigl remained rather pale and left the game structure to others. He was substituted after 63 minutes and received a 4.0 from sport.de.
Schlotterbeck’s mistake “can happen to anyone”
Nevertheless, Matthew supports the nomination of the Lisbon-by-choice. Despite everything, Weigl is “a reliable footballer. He’s sure of the ball and Flick rightly rewarded Benfica’s entry into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a nomination. The national coach now has 30 or 35 players and each position is filled twice or three times”. In view of the upcoming tournament next winter, this is exactly right.
DFB debutant Nico Schlotterbeck, who had previously been called up to the squad by Hansi Flick, was able to excel a little more, but had had to wait until now to play. “We don’t want to overestimate the careless mistake in the last second. That can happen to anyone. Next time just be a little more concentrated,” said Matthäus about the scene from Freiburg, who conceded a penalty shortly before the end.