France has to do without many good players at the U21 European Championship – and still remains France. In the semifinals it will therefore be shown how good Germany really is.
In the late Sunday evening, television cameras in the stands of a very small stadium in Slovakia caught two men who were once involved in one of the greatest successes in the history of Italian football. This time they witnessed a failure. On the left was one in the black suit: Gennaro Gattuso, 47, national coaches in Italy for a few days. To the right of him, Gianluigi Buffon, 47, the team coordinator of the national team crouched. He also wore black.
The six -man Gattuso and goalkeeper Buffon in 2006 had become world champions as active footballers. Now your task is no longer to annoy opposing playmakers or to keep the most impossible balls. They are supposed to lead Italy’s football from a dreary present to a glamorous future. So it happened that they sat next to each other in a box and observed how Italy scored two goals in the quarter -finals of the European Championship against Germany, but collected three. Italy is out, for Gattuso and Buffon these are not good news.
Nagelsmann watches the U21 from a distance
For German football, however, it’s pretty good news. On Wednesday (June 25th, 2025, from 9 p.m. in the live ticker), Germany will meet France in the semi-finals, it would also be a worthy final. Presumably well -informed people will then search for well -known faces on television in the stands. The Italians Gattuso and Buffon should not find them. Perhaps you will find Rudi Völler, the sports director of the DFB. He was not only in the stadium in the victory against Italy.
You will also search for Julian Nagelsmann – probably without success. There are no photos of him that show him in the stands in the stands in Slovak. Not everyone thinks that. But at the DFB you will not find the absence of your national coach at the most important young tournament, but the discussion about it.
That is “A bit of a German phenomenon”Managing Director Andreas Rettig told the broadcaster “Sky”. He referred to France’s national coach Didier Deschamps and England coach Thomas Tuchel, who has never seen nobody in Slovakia. And Völler said that he regularly talked to Nagelsmann, also about the U21. The national coach will of course come to a final.
Without Doué and Cherki – at France, Tel is now in the spotlight
But before the final, the tournament logic wants it before the final. A visit could already be worthwhile for Nagelsmann. France is not an overpowering opponent, especially since the coach Gérald Baticle, 55, has to do without his most talented players. Désiré Doué and Bradley Barcola, who have just won the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain, are not there. Rayan Cherki, whom Pep Guardiola has lured to Manchester City, is also missing. They prefer to sweat at the club World Cup. Stuttgart’s Enzo Millot (family reasons) and Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitiké (back problems) are also not there.
You have to do without your dribbling and passports, templates and goals at France’s U21. That is why players who are sometimes overlooked: Castello Lukeba by RB Leipzig and captain Chrislain Matsima from FC Augsburg may be the strongest central defender duo in this final round. Even the key player in midfield is not one who defines himself through retailers: Football plays Lucien Agoumé from FC Sevilla without a frills, he rarely loses an overview, but often conquers the ball.
And then there is Mathys Tel, about whom you thought at Bayern FC that he would rob the next Arjen or Robert Lewandowski. Sometimes they planned him as a winger, then he played again in the attack center. Tel has not become seals or Lewandowski, he has been playing for Tottenham and no longer in Munich for six months. In France’s U21, however, he is the hope of hope on the offensive. There they rely on his dribbles, the runs in depth and on his goals – two are so far at this final round.
Woltemade, the game -making goal scorer of the U21
One “Top nation” Also be France when important players were missing, said Antonio di Salvo, 46, coach of the German U21. Perhaps at that moment he also thought of his own squad. He also lacks some important players: Maximilian Beier plays the club World Cup with Borussia Dortmund, Jonas Urbig experiences them as the second goalkeeper of FC Bayern from the replacement bank.
It has not been long ago that the U21 last played against France. Beier scored twice in November, but in the end it was 2-2. Others now have to take care of the gates. It will also arrive on Nick Woltemade while seeing the game, the game -making goal scorer (5 tournament gates), who performs out -of -the -stark legs. The national coach Nagelsmann has long since discovered him. Before the U21 European Championship, Woltemade played the Final Four in the Nations League with the A national team.
Only the U21 does not only consist of Woltemade, some players play for them who could eventually become interesting for Nagelsmann. The dribbler Brajan Gruda and Paul Nebel can decide games with an action, as a left-back, Nathaniel Brown also convinces with his advances, and Noah Atubolu is a goalkeeper who could relieve Marc-André Ter Steegen at some point.
But first of all, they all work together to force the national coach Nagelsmann to visit Slovakia. “We are now in the semi -finals”says coach Di Salvo. “If we don’t think about the final and the title, it would be strange.”