Hansi Flick comments on the corona chaos – and asks for your indulgence

Should the career of football teacher Hans-Dieter Flick come to an end, he could move seamlessly into politics. It is Flick’s gift to take the edge off debates, to work quietly in the background and to fight for one’s own interests there. The national coach avoided taking some of his players to court on Wednesday – even though they are currently facing major problems.

Hansi Flick: “You shouldn’t prejudice people”

Central defender Niklas Süle tested positive for the corona virus on Monday evening. A day later, not only Süle left the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Wolfsburg, but also Serge Gnabry, Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala (all FC Bayern) and Karim Adeyemi (RB Salzburg). They were sent to quarantine because they had contact with Süle – and possibly also because they are not vaccinated. This suspicion is in the room because four other players who were on the same plane from Munich to Lower Saxony were not quarantined. Joshua Kimmich is known to have no vaccination protection.

Flick was very cautious about criticism on Wednesday. “In my opinion, vaccination is the only way out of the pandemic,” said Flick. “Five players are going home – I would like to see something like that no longer exist.”

Nonetheless, Flick campaigned for gentleness towards Kimmich and colleagues. “You shouldn’t prejudice people. We don’t have to be vaccinated in Germany either.” Flick had only been able to speak briefly to the players concerned – the contact restriction did not allow anything else. “But we will continue these talks,” announced Flick – certainly also to take precautions so that the coronavirus does not upset the squad again as much as it does these days. The DFB team will travel to Qatar for the World Cup next year; Flick’s goal is to return to the top of the world.

And the renovation work begins

Before the international match against Liechtenstein on Thursday, Flick now has to rebuild the team a lot. Because not only the four Bayern professionals and Adeyemi are out, but also Florian Wirtz, Julian Draxler and Nico Schlotterbeck due to injuries. For this, Lukas Nmecha will probably come to his first international match. “I want to fire up the rumor mill,” said Flick, “maybe he’ll even start playing”. And if you looked into Flick’s face and saw a smile, you knew: Nmecha will play.

Lukas Nmecha is a classic, angular center forward. A type of player who had a hard time under Flick’s predecessor Joachim Löw. Löw rather liked small, slender players who combined the ball into the goal. He admired Spanish football, the high technical level – and the lack of force and duel strength. This led to a species extinction on the center forward position in Germany; only Flick, who took over from Löw in August, has this position in mind again.

Nmecha, 22, who trained at Manchester City, has had a strong season so far. At VfL Wolfsburg he benefits from the new coach Florian Kohfeldt and competes with Wout Weghorst, who is also equipped with the cross of a Westphalian farmer’s cupboard.

Thomas Müller, one of the age presidents of the national team with 108 internationals, has gained a positive impression of Nmecha. “It looked very good in training yesterday,” said Müller. “Lukas comes very close to the ideal of a crusher.”

Against Liechtenstein, Flick will send an eleven onto the pitch “that has never played together like this before,” as he said. Flick is forced to experiment, but luckily he has already qualified for the World Cup, the games against Liechtenstein and Armenia (Sunday, 6 p.m., RTL) mean sparring at a higher level.

Nevertheless, Flick wants to offer “a great game” to the 26,000 spectators in Wolfsburg, especially since Joachim Löw is also in the audience. Löw, who became world champion with the national team in 2014 and last crashed at the European Championships, will be bid farewell by the DFB before kick-off.