Tuesday was not Mats Hummels’ day: The chief of defense of German national team made a mistake at the start of the European Championship in the Munich arena and caused the winning own goal for France to the 0: 1 result from a German point of view. A bitter action by the 32-year-old in his first competitive game for the DFB team since the disembarkation in spring 2019. Hummels could not clear a sharp cross from Bayern defender Lucas Hernandez. The ball jumped from his shin at the limit of the six-yard area, making it unsustainable for goalkeeper Manuel Neuer into his own goal. In conversation with the picture Hummels has now explained the unfortunate scene.
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According to Hummels, the own goal was not one “where I could have done a lot differently”. Hernandez’s ball was difficult to handle. Because of the French superstar Kylian Mbappé standing behind him, he had to act. “You have to differentiate between own goals: there are some where you can do a lot – and some where you have few options,” said the BVB defender, who, according to his own statement, has received encouragement from teammates. “During the game, three or four teammates came to me and told me how difficult this ball was.”explained Hummels.
Bastian Schweinsteiger, who had become world champion with Hummels in Brazil in 2014, saw it differently the day after the DFB went bankrupt. He designated Hummels’ defensive behavior in its function as ARD-Expert after the Hernandez cross as “very wooden”. A criticism that Hummels did not want to sit on. “I think that Basti, as a former footballer, should be better able to assess how difficult this ball is. But as an expert he can of course express his opinion.”, so the counterattack of the central defender.
Hummels himself doesn’t blame himself for the own goal: “On a really good day I might get it cleared up. But for a central defender it was perhaps the most unpleasant ball there is,” said the DFB star. “So I didn’t have to be cheered up much.”
