Germany kept their Nations League quarter-final hopes alive with a convincing performance for much of the match against Serbia. Their 3-1 (2-0) victory in Belgrade brought a debutant into the spotlight and offered a glimpse of a quality they have lacked for years.
Captain Joshua Kimmich returned to the starting line-up and showed how well the midfield works with him pulling the strings. Meanwhile, a summer signing at Bayern Munich faces a fight for his place.
DFB team: Brajan Gruda impresses on his belated debut
When Jürgen Klopp took charge of Germany in late summer, he suggested wing play would become more important. His predecessor Julian Nagelsmann often fielded just one nominal winger, Leroy Sane or Jamie Leweling, and preferred to use Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz in the half-spaces. Klopp made clear he wanted a different approach in attack.
"Any team can make the game narrow; today's playmakers play on the wing," Klopp said at the time. His diagnosis addressed a familiar problem: Germany's attacks had often stalled in recent years and become predictable. They repeatedly struggled against deep-lying opponents, as their World Cup exit against Paraguay showed. The team lacked the pace and one-on-one ability to make their creativity in central areas count.
Across Klopp's first four matches, several players had chances on the attacking flanks. During the international break at the beginning of October, he used Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl, Cologne's Said El Mala, Freiburg's Derry Scherhant, Brentford's Kevin Schade and Barcelona's Karim Adeyemi. All showed promise, but none convinced completely.
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Against Serbia, Brajan Gruda finally made his long-awaited Germany debut. Klopp had named the Leipzig player in his first squad, only for an abdominal muscle strain to scupper those plans at short notice. The coach had repeatedly stressed that the "street footballer" Gruda featured prominently in his plans and had been near the top of his watchlist for several years. "He's a brilliant player who likes to take people on and hasn't yet fulfilled his potential. He doesn't have to at his age, but he has shown a lot of positive signs," Klopp said.
With that praise to live up to, the 22-year-old delivered on Friday evening. Gruda linked up well in Germany's passing moves, used his pace to drive forward and repeatedly took on Serbian left-back Petar Sukacev, who at times looked overwhelmed. One run could have earned Gruda an assist in the first half, but Kai Havertz headed his pinpoint cross well wide.
After the break, the Leipzig player carried the ball more than 50 metres on a superb solo run and finished with a crisp shot from the edge of the penalty area that gave the goalkeeper no chance. According to statistics portal OPTA, nine of Gruda's 14 dribbles against Serbia were successful, a mark reached only once before in a Germany shirt in the past ten years. Jamal Musiala managed it at the 2022 World Cup, when the Bayern star recorded no fewer than 13 successful dribbles.
Klopp called Gruda's first senior appearance "incredible" after the final whistle. The Germany coach also had sympathy for the helpless Sukacev: "That left-back is a poor guy!"
Getty ImagesDFB team: The new midfield works with Joshua Kimmich too
Joshua Kimmich did not appear to have been particularly missed in Germany's previous two matches. With the captain left out of Jürgen Klopp's squad for both the first match against Serbia and the return match against Greece, Aleksandar Pavlovic, Tom Bischof and Florian Wirtz formed the midfield trio in both games.
Pavlovic, playing Kimmich's defensive midfield role, combined brilliantly with Bischof, in only his second international appearance, and Wirtz in the half-spaces. All three performed well for the most part. Bischof's goal to make it 1-0 in the first match against Serbia came from a move involving the trio, with help from the goalpost. Wirtz then scored the second.
"The three of us understood each other well," Bischof said. Wirtz had "really, really enjoyed" playing alongside Bischof. "He moves very, very cleverly into space and is very good on the ball." Goalkeeper Jonas Urbig, meanwhile, felt "the connection between Pavlo and Tom worked brilliantly. They controlled the game very well."
Watching on, Kimmich saw his two Bayern team-mates and Wirtz put their stamp on Germany's play. Shortly afterwards, familiar pundits resurfaced to question the 31-year-old's overall influence on Germany's game.
Before the return match against Serbia, Klopp criticised that reaction. "It's not so easy to be pleased about the performances of two young players (Pavlovic and Bischof; editor's note) – rightly so, because they simply played well – only for the story to become: 'What does that mean for Kimmich?'" the Germany coach explained, stressing: "Nothing! Because Jo Kimmich is a fantastic player. It means nothing!"
On Friday evening in Belgrade, Kimmich showed his quality and how important he can remain for Germany. As usual, the Bayern Munich player had the most touches and played the most passes of anyone involved. He immediately re-established himself as the hub of Germany's play, with almost every dangerous attack going through him. The midfield works with the captain too.
Getty ImagesDFB team: The contest for the left-back spot is wide open
Jürgen Klopp appears to have settled on Phillip Treu as his regular right-back in a back four. The Freiburg player has started four of the five Nations League matches and performed solidly. At left-back, though, the contest is more open than it has been for a long time.
Three options are available to the Germany coach. Nathaniel Brown initially looked the clear favourite, perhaps partly because of his summer move from Eintracht Frankfurt to Bayern Munich. Klopp preferred him to David Raum (RB Leipzig) and Maximilian Mittelstädt (VfB Stuttgart) in the opening two matches against the Netherlands and Greece.
Since then, the balance appears to have shifted significantly towards the Stuttgart player. Against Serbia, Mittelstädt started for the second match in a row and, for the second match in a row, the 29-year-old played really well. After providing the assist for Florian Wirtz in the first match against Serbia, he made another contribution on Friday.
Immediately before the opening goal, Mittelstädt won a corner with a determined run forward, then delivered it into the penalty area himself. He found Kai Havertz, whose rather poorly placed header reached Serbia's Srdan Babic. Babic deflected it into his own net, giving the goalkeeper no chance. Mittelstädt contributed to many of Germany's good attacks, repeatedly threatened with crosses into the opposition penalty area and gave nothing away at the back.
For now, the Stuttgart player appears to have claimed the left-back spot in the back four. If Mittelstädt keeps performing this well, Klopp will struggle to find a case for bringing back Brown or Raum.
IMAGODFB team: The current Nations League table
Position | Team | Played | W | D | L | Goals | Difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Netherlands | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 14:5 | +9 | 11 |
2 | Greece | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5:10 | -5 | 8 |
3 | Germany | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6:3 | +3 | 8 |
4 | Serbia | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1:8 | -7 | 0 |