Incident in Stuttgart
“Nonsense”: DFB stars criticize whistles against Sané
March 31, 2026 – 11:09 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
After the narrow win against Ghana, the German players need to talk. Not because of the performance, but the behavior of the fans.
The German national players stood behind Leroy Sané, who was booed by fans. After the 2-1 win in the World Cup friendly against Ghana, goalkeeper Alexander Nübel made it clear: “Absolute nonsense. I don’t know what that’s about. We want to go to America together as a nation and play the World Cup and not separately.” The euphoria that he and his team “want to ignite now can only be achieved together.”
The controversial Sané was whistled by parts of the Stuttgart audience when he was substituted in the 78th minute. VfB attacker Deniz Undav took a very clear position after the game in his home stadium, scoring the late winning goal after a header from Sané.
“I appeal to the fans again: We need every player, regardless of whether you like Leroy or not, we will need him. We know about his quality. And we are a team, we are a nation, we have to stick together, you can’t exclude anyone,” said Undav. The striker had already commented on this following an ARD interview because it was important to him to defend Sané.
National coach Julian Nagelsmann also addressed the fans. The 38-year-old doesn’t want to criticize the supporters. “In general, I think it’s important that, regardless of whether you’re happy with the performance or not, we support the player at least when he comes on as a substitute for as long as he wears the eagle on his chest,” he emphasized.
In the 4-3 win in Switzerland last Friday, Sané showed a mixed performance from the start. Even during his World Cup and European Championship appearances, the 30-year-old never used his full potential.
