National soccer team: Ilkay Gündoğan still sees himself as DFB captain

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National player Ilkay Gündoğan (m.) gives Serge Gnabry (l.) and Leroy Sané instructions in the international match against Austria: “In the end, it doesn’t matter who wears the armband.”

Photo:

Christian Charisius/dpa

Ilkay Gündogan continues to see himself as captain of the German national soccer team.

“At the moment I am assuming that I am still the captain,” said the FC Barcelona professional on the Amazon streaming service Prime Video.

However, the DFB selection has “a lot of players who have to take on a lot of responsibility because we need that experience,” added Gündogan after reaching the Champions League quarter-finals.

He spoke to Julian Nagelsmann on the phone “very, very recently,” said 33-year-old Gündogan.

The national coach simply told him in a "very short conversation" that he would "of course" be there at the start of the European Championship year with the international matches on March 23rd in France and three days later against the Netherlands, said Gündogan.

Long-time captain Manuel Neuer returns to the DFB selection for the two test matches for the first time since the 2022 World Cup.

Gündogan was appointed the new captain by Hansi Flick in June 2023, and Nagelsmann had confirmed the former Dortmund player in this position.

Long-time national player Toni Kroos will also make his comeback in the DFB jersey.

“To a certain extent it doesn’t matter who wears the bandage”

“In the end, it doesn’t matter to a certain extent who wears the armband,” said Gündogan.

The most important thing is that “we are a team, that we show unity and that everyone is aware of their role and how they can best help the team.”

If the team manages to do this optimally, he has “complete confidence” in the team and is sure “that we can play a very successful tournament.”

With a view to the European Championships, Nagelsmann had already announced personnel surprises in a SPIEGEL interview at the end of February.

“One or two people who many people think will definitely be there will definitely not be nominated,” said Nagelsmann.

You can read the entire interview here. 

On Tuesday, the "Bild" newspaper and "Kicker" reported that Nagelsmann would call up Bayern Munich midfielder Aleksandar Pavlović for the next two international matches for the first time.

Accordingly, Leon Goretzka should make way for the 19-year-old.

Nagelsmann will officially announce his squad for the two games on Thursday (2 p.m.).

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