Germany will look to book their place in the UEFA Nations League final on home soil with a win against Portugal on Wednesday night. Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Julian Nagelsmann revealed that there’s two starting places up for grabs.
“We have nine out of 11 positions in mind,” said Nagelsmann, who added that those that paid attention in training would know if they are playing or not. When Leon Goretzka was asked if he was playing, the Bayern Munich midfielder replied: “I was paying attention.”
Heading into the international break, Germany have to do without Antonio Rüdiger, Nico Schlotterbeck, Kai Havertz, Tim Kleindienst and Jamal Musiala. Since then, Nadiem Amiri has withdrawn, as has Angelo Stiller, Jonathan Burkardt and Yann Aurel Bisseck, with Monaco’s Thilo Kehrer being called up.
Most of the team picks itself when looking at past line-ups, but it looks as though the two positions that are up for grabs is the No. 9 with Kleindienst and Havertz sidelined with Niclas Fullkrug working his way back from injury, meaning it will likely be between Deniz Undav and Nick Woltemade. The other position would be the place alongside Goretzka in midfield, which could go to one of Aleksandar Pavlović or Pascal Groß.
Nagelsmann did confirm that Florian Wirtz would play.
GGFN | Daniel Pinder
