Home stadium and guaranteed starting XI: The national team’s international benefit match against Ukraine on Monday (June 12, 2023, 6 p.m., in the live ticker on sportschau.de) will not be a normal game for Bremen’s Niclas Füllkrug.
National coach Hansi Flick only wanted to give little insight into his starting eleven the day before the international match against Ukraine. In addition to goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, Flick then revealed a – albeit expected – personality: Niclas Füllkrug will be in the starting XI. flick said: “He’s someone who does a team good, who leads the way.”
Of course, before the 1000th international match in the history of the DFB in Bremen, Füllkrug himself had his say. “I’m really looking forward to it, of course it’s a special constellation”said Füllkrug in an interview with the sports show.
Füllkrug, 30, played for Werder as a youth, he later turned professional in Bremen, and at some point he moved to Fürth, to Nuremberg, to Hanover. He has been back in Bremen since 2019 – and is an indispensable regular player there, also because of his goals. In the past season, Füllkrug scored 16 goals, and together with Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku he became the Bundesliga’s top scorer.
Füllkrug wishes “great game” for the Ukrainians
And yet this special constellation that Füllkrug was talking about was not one that was only about sport. It was also about the war in Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, as a human being, you have to admit that we all get used to situations pretty quickly.”said Füllkrug at a press conference one day before the symbolic anniversary game. “I would be happy if all the boys from Ukraine could experience a great game, have a great day and enjoy it too. I’m sure they have other things on their mind too.”
Bremen goalscorer transfer rumours relaxed
When he was asked whether the international match might even be his last game in Bremen, Füllkrug told Sportschau that there wasn’t much to say about that. “I’m a Werder player and I really like that.”
Whether as a player from Werder Bremen or from another club – Füllkrug will do everything to play an important role in the European Championships at home next year. And his chances are good, goalscorers like him are rare in Germany. With six goals from the last six international matches, he currently has the best hit rate.
Flick lets the triple chain practice
National coach Hansi Flick wants to use the three upcoming international matches against Ukraine, Poland (June 16) and Colombia (June 20) to get closer to his starting eleven for the big tournament in his own country and his new system with a three-man chain and double leadership to try.
“We are carefully considering who will play, we are in a process leading up to the European Championship and will use the games to have different insights at the end of the journey.”, said Flick on Sunday. In an interview with the sports show, Flick then also spoke about goals. One of them: The team, Flick sees it, has to reestablish the self-image “that you can beat any opponent”.
Flick is expected to test the back three made up of Antonio Rüdiger, Nico Schlotterbeck and Lukas Klostermann, with David Raum on the left and Marius Wolf on the right on the flanks.
In this formation, Emre Can would probably be the clear six that Flick had sometimes discussed recently. Next to Joshua Kimmich, Florian Wirtz should start in front of him. Flick has to do without Leipzig’s Timo Werner (ankle injury). Ilkay Gündogan and Robin Gosens will not join the team until Wednesday after the Champions League final in Istanbul.
The expected lineups
Germany: Trapp/Eintracht Frankfurt (32/6) – Klostermann/RB Leipzig (27/21), Rüdiger/Real Madrid (30/57), Schlotterbeck/Borussia Dortmund (23/9) – Wolf/Borussia Dortmund (28/2), Can/Borussia Dortmund (29/39), Kimmich/Bayern Munich (28/76), Raum/RB Leipzig (25/17) – Wirtz/Bayer Leverkusen (20/6) – Havertz/FC Chelsea (24/34), Tankard/Werder Bremen (30/6)
Ukraine: Trubin/Shakhtar Donetsk (21 years/4 internationals) – Konoplya/Shakhtar Donetsk (23/3), Swatok/SK Dnipro-1 (28/1), Matviyenko/Shakhtar Donetsk (27/55), Sobol/Racing Strasbourg (28 /28) – Sydorchuk / Dinamo Kiev (32/54), Stepanenko / Shakhtar Donetsk (33/74) – Zygankov (FC Girona (25/44), Malinowskyi / Olympique Marseille (30/52), Mudryk / FC Chelsea (22 /9) – Dovbyk/SK Dnipro-1 (25/16)