Normally, Hansi Flick loves to smell the grass and feel the atmosphere.

The country's top football coach often doesn't look any different than the usual fan. On Wednesday evening, however, Flick wasn't sitting in hot Seville, but in front of the television in his home town of Bammental, where, like nine million Germans in front of the screens, he saw the European highlight of Frankfurt's Eintracht pursued.

Christian Kamp

sports editor.

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He was "excited," said Flick the next day in a media round, which was supposed to be about his plans for the upcoming international matches and the rest of the World Cup season, but at the beginning of which he first congratulated Eintracht from the highest authority: for the " Crowning an outstanding performance” in the Europa League.

"That," said Flick, "is very good for German football."

trap "sensational"

The fact that he wasn't in Seville might have something to do with the fact that he didn't have that much to do full-time there, because even if Eintracht Frankfurt is now allowed to trade as Eintracht Germany in terms of fan sympathy, the group of players who for the German national jersey in question, but very manageable.

Currently, this is only Kevin Trapp, whose contribution to the Frankfurt masterpiece Flick also recognized pin-sharp through the screen.

The Eintracht goalkeeper reacted “sensationally” shortly before the end and then saved the “decisive penalty kick”.

The Eintracht legend Charly Körbel even elevated Trapp to the rank of currently best German goalkeeper after the triumph against Glasgow Rangers – and did not receive any explicit objection from Flick.

Trapp, said Flick, has an "outstanding form".

A sore point

Now it was certainly not the case that the national coach was seriously inviting speculation, the contours of a possible fall from the throne in the federal gate can only be seen through the Frankfurt club glasses for the time being.

On the other hand, this touched on a point that could be important for Germany's World Cup prospects this year.

Because even if Flick emphasized how “happy” he was that five German teams would play in the Champions League next year – Flick shouldn’t be so happy about the fact that only one made it to the quarter-finals this year and then not beyond .

And if you put it a little further: If the World Cup were to start as usual in the summer, he would not only be dealing with a core of grumpy Mia-san-who-were-again-Bayern, but also with a few players , whose current role in the clubs is in considerable discrepancy to the intended or self-formulated one in the national team: Timo Werner, Ilkay Gündogan, Thilo Kehrer, to name the most prominent.

Depending on how the rest of the year goes, the topic of playing rhythm and self-confidence could end up on Flick’s desk again with a note of urgency – and possibly also require the courage to make ticklish (or at least ticklish) decisions.

"door always open"

With his squad for the upcoming dates in the Nations League, he first consolidated the previous circle of his shop stewards: no trace of unrest, no surprises either, Flick presented pretty much the names that were to be expected: Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry, Niklas Süle, Marco Reus, Karim Adeyemi, Jonas Hofmann, Lukas Klostermann are back.

Matthias Ginter, Florian Neuhaus, Christian Günter and Robin Gosens, on the other hand, must feel like “hard cases” who lost their places for the time being, and there was no longer any mention of Mats Hummels or Emre Can.

Flick emphasized that the "door is always open", but whether he really expects someone there is another question in view of how the rest of the year is structured.

"The squad that is there now is the measure of all things in terms of trunk," said Flick.

"Relax and unwind" in Marbella

The national coach will not have his players together for as long or as intensively as in the next three weeks until the World Cup.

On Monday, the team and trainers will meet in Marbella for a short training camp, which, in addition to position-specific training, also offers enough space to "relax and wind down" until Friday, if desired with family members.

After the (involuntarily) free Champions League final weekend for everyone, the next meeting point is Herzogenaurach on Monday, where Flick set up the base quarters for the Nations League block of four against Italy (June 4, Bologna), England (June 7, Munich ), Hungary (June 11, Budapest, all games at 8:45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the national team and on RTL) and Italy again (June 14, Mönchengladbach).

Flick emphasized the importance of the games against Italy and England in particular, “the two best teams in the Euros”: as a way to determine where you stand, but also to “hone yourself as a team”.

Flick seems to like the fact that the team will soon have a stronger Dortmund profile in addition to the familiar Bavarian profile.

"On two legs," he says, is a team that is already quite good, which should not only spur on central defenders Süle and Nico Schlotterbeck, but also attacker Adeyemi.

On another question, however, Flick was rather conservative.

He does not think about a change of position by Joshua Kimmich, said the national coach, despite the oversupply in the center, to which Jamal Musiala recently made an impressive contribution.

For the sake of completeness and for current reasons, it should be added: Flick did not mention the name Sebastian Rode after his TV evening.