Strong offensive German footballers give away the victory against Spain at the start of the Nations League in stoppage time
Stuttgart. The Swabian could not be celebrated in his homeland this time, Timo Werner was not in a jubilant mood after the terrible end of the ghost game against Spain. National coach Joachim Löw had taken the new Londoner as the alleged match winner in the 90th minute, like 27 minutes earlier, from his attacking partner Leroy Sané. From the bench, the two top attackers of the German national soccer team saw Luis José Gayà’s late equalizer in the sixth minute of stoppage time. “Very annoying,” grumbled Werner, scorer of the 1-0 in the 51st minute: “We actually played a good game and ran a lot.” Loew and the team were denied the wages at the start of the Nations League.
“Unhappy end – next chance on Sunday”, Sané tweeted that night after the first disappointment. In his first international match after 15 months, the 24-year-old was surprisingly agile and dangerous for goals. Löw had agreed with the new Bayern jewel that it would give a sign to replace it “when he feels tired”. Sané would have done the German counterattack even when he was tired, but knowing the fitness of his valuable attacker, Löw stuck to the agreed substitution: “You have to be careful with him.” Cramps were the cause of Sané’s departure. After his cruciate ligament rupture in August 2019, Sané came back after the corona break and made first appearances with the Manchester City second team. But at professional level he only played eleven minutes against Burnley after the long break – that was on June 22nd. “I myself feel at 80 percent,” repeated Sané after the Spain game.
Löw and his Spanish colleague Luis Enrique were nevertheless impressed by the qualities of the DFB offensive. “That was a goal worth seeing,” commented the Spanish coach on Werner’s twelfth international goal in the empty Stuttgart arena. The offensive is already a trump card in Löw’s plans for the EM next year. “We have very good players there,” said Werner. “And when you see who is still missing,” added the Chelsea attacker. Serge Gnabry, most recently the national team’s most reliable goalscorer, is currently taking a break as a Champions League winner with Bayern. Dortmund’s Marco Reus is fighting his way back after an injury.
“After the goal we might have let ourselves be pushed in too far back,” said Werner about the late compensation. The relief was missing more and more – which had to do with the substitutions of Werner and Sané. dpa / nd
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