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Jonas Hofmann at the DFB: Currently the most important German attacker – sport

Jonas Hofmann started from the depths, received the through pass at the right moment, then ran a few meters towards the goal and pushed the ball past Péter Gulacsi to make it 2-1 into the top corner.

That’s what happened on May 2 when Borussia Mönchengladbach defeated RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga under home floodlights, and this scene could have been repeated almost exactly in detail on Saturday night in Budapest when Hofmann got the ball from Kai Havertz and was alone on Gulacsi rushed. But the fact that he had already pulled off the prank 40 days before proved not to be an advantage, but a disadvantage. The clever Hungarian goalkeeper probably remembered the scene from Mönchengladbach. This time he didn’t run towards the attacker, he stopped and gave Hofmann a choice, who promptly did the wrong thing.

Hofmann was later asked what went through his head in the 72nd minute, when he saw the 2-1 and his second goal in mind. “Too much!” he replied immediately. Apparently this led to a mental short circuit. Instead of shooting, he tried to serve Timo Werner, who had run with him, although he knew better. “The funny thing is: I saw the opponent to my left and still play him (the ball). Somehow the synapses didn’t fire properly.”

It suits the team player Hofmann, 29, that he felt obliged to say “Sorry” to his team. “I have to score the winning goal, I have to take responsibility for that,” he said. In truth, the colleagues once again had reason to say thank you to Hofmann because he had initiated the equalizer with another fast run. Nico Schlotterbeck recognized the movement on the right edge of the picture and sent a long pass, which the addressee received technically skillfully, while Gulacsi ran into space.

Hofmann convinces with reliability and game intelligence

One of the unexpected lessons of this series of international matches is that without Jonas Hofmann the national team would be in a quandary. In the 1-1 draw in Italy, he prepared the only goal (indirect), against England and Hungary he scored the goals himself. The Gladbach winger, whom Hansi Flick supposedly out of embarrassment converted into a right-back with forward gear at the beginning of his service, has become a winger again and also the most dangerous, even most important German attacker. The primary defensive duties on his side were taken care of by Thilo Kehrer in Budapest. Hofmann may interpret this as social advancement.

Unlike colleagues Leroy Sané, Serge Gnabry or Jamal Musiala, Jonas Hofmann is not the type of offensive player for whom English or Spanish clubs pay extremely heavy transfer fees, and he is also not a professional who arouses crazy transfer market fantasies because of his far from exhausted potential . But he is the man who shows his skills quite reliably and has special value thanks to his intelligent sprints into the depths. Borussia will have to fight to keep the international who is just blossoming in his late DFB career (he made his debut aged 27). Hofmann has only missed two of the twelve international matches since Jogi Löw’s resignation – due to a torn muscle fibre.

The 13th game of the Hansi Flick era will now be a home game for the right winger. Whether he should be in the starting XI when they meet Italy in Mönchengladbach is not a topic that the coaching staff has to discuss at length.

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