Perhaps the most important personnel issue before the start of the national team at the European championship against world champions France was announced a day before the announcement of the German squad.

The French national coach Deschamps has brought star striker Benzema back into the Equipe Tricolore.

With the top attacker from Real Madrid, the world champion now has an enviable selection of strikers together.

It reads like this: Mbappé, Dembélé, Griezmann, Coman, Giroud - and Benzema.

Michael Horeni

Correspondent for sports in Berlin.

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    Against this background, the comeback of Thomas Müller, longed for by many fans, does not seem like the great liberation that is to be combined with the return of the 31-year-old Bayern attacker this summer.

    Nevertheless, together with the comeback of Mats Hummels, it is probably the best personnel decision that the national coach has made since winning the title seven years ago.

    You simply cannot do without such top players.

    The backward somersault, which Joachim Löw had to do to take this banality into account, was still a difficult exercise for the national coach.

    He also verbally dislocated himself during the presentation of his EM squad - just as he has been doing since it became clear that his line could not be kept.

    That was clear even before the pandemic began.

    Since then, Löw has been playing for time.

    And that's why his team now has less time to find each other in a new constellation.

    Boateng didn't even call

    The upheaval - according to Löw's language rule for the hasty evictions of Müller, Hummels and Boateng (who is not allowed to come back) - can be interrupted under special circumstances. In truth, however, the special circumstances, as the national coach wants the fans to believe, were only unfavorable in this matter for his argumentation. The old stars have even aged by another year because of the postponement of the European Championship - and the younger players got an extra season for free to develop further. Nevertheless, Löw's plan to rely on younger workers at the EM did not work out. The fact that he simply made a mistake two years ago with the expulsion of the world champions, the national coach could not or did not want to make this admission even at the final stage of his career.

    Boateng also deserved a nomination. The Bayern defender also performed well in top games against top strikers such as Mbappé and Neymar. And that all nine defenders who are now nominated for the EM should be better than Boateng - you have to come to that first. But Löw did not even consider a phone call to Boateng to inform him of his decision.

    In a certain way, all these displacement efforts also matched the way in which the national team and their national coach presented themselves at the squad presentation: At a video conference that turned out to be a digital feel-good zone for over an hour with fans from children to senior citizens. This included self-referential gossip, for example how difficult the work of the athletic leadership should have been during the Corona crisis. In a country that is actually plagued by pandemics, where people are hoping for a nice (football) summer, only one thing is certain with a view to Löw and the national team: Your reality test is only now beginning.