Sinsheim (dpa) – The ex-world champion didn’t like that. “One can speak of an attack of arrogance,” said Per Mertesacker as a ZDF expert about debutant Nico Schlotterbeck, who caused a penalty shortly before the end in the 2-0 (2-0) test match of the national soccer team against Israel.
There is a “very fine line” between “self-confidence and arrogance,” said Mertesacker, once a central defender for the DFB selection and 2014 world champion. Apart from that, the 37-year-old praised the 22-year-old Schlotterbeck for his courageous performance.
In the closing stages of the game, the Freiburger had carelessly lost the ball to the rushing Yonatan Cohen in the penalty area and was only able to get away with a foul. Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who came on as a substitute in the second half, parried the penalty kick that was due, and Schlotterbeck immediately thanked him. “I think it was just bad in the situation,” Schlotterbeck said of his foul.
Mertesacker said: “It is important that he learns from these scenes.” The young defender doesn’t need these actions “when he thinks: ‘I don’t need to look left and right’.” National coach Hansi Flick did not follow the arrogance thesis. “Those are the things we learn from,” he said. “At a World Cup, something like that can be deadly in the 90th minute.”