An injury struck Germany’s preparation for their friendly match against France this weekend. Senior goalkeeper Manuel Neuer felt a pain on his left adductor muscle during the national team training andis now heading to Munich to undergo treatment for the same.
As a result, the Bayern Munich player has been dropped from the current squad. Youngster Aleksandar Pavlovic also joined the goalkeeper in the list of players out from the squad after suffering tonsillitis at the back of his throat.
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Manuel Neuer and Aleksandar Pavlovic: Germany lost two Bayern Munich stars
Germany national team coach Julian Nagelsmann initially called 26 players including Neuer and Pavlovic for the March international matches. Replacements for both of Bayern’s players are yet to be announced as the gaffer continues preparing his team.
“Manuel Neuer has travelled home from the Germany national team early and will miss the two upcoming international fixtures against World Cup runners-up France and the Netherlands,” DFB announced in their official statement. “The FC Bayern München goalkeeper and 2014 world champion left the team headquarters in Gravenbruch near Frankfurt on Wednesday due to a muscle strain in his left adductor. He picked up the injury in training on Wednesday morning.”
Among the 26 names Nagelsmann called, there were actually six new faces showing up in Die Manschaft’s latest training including Pavlovic. The five others are Deniz Undav, Jan-Niklas Beste, Waldemar Anton, Maximilian Mittelstadt, and Maximilian Beier.
A postponed show for the shining young star
Pavlovic was the youngest name of Nagelsmann’s current call-ups at 19 years of age. He already scored two goals from 12 games since debuting earlier in October which provoked Nagelsmann to give him an opportunity in the national team.
“He has shown very strong performances recently,” Nagelsmann said of Pavlovic’s performance. “He was one of the best players at Bayern. Of course this was not a political decision. We didn’t have to convince him.
“That was the consequence of the performance principle. We’ll see whether it’ll be enough for the Euros. He talks in the dressing room and doesn’t hide despite his young age.”
With Neuer and Pavlovic out, Stuttgart is now the club from where most players (4) of this squad come from. Apart from Undav, Anton, and Mittelstadt, there is also Chris Fuhrich who had his first national team appearance last October. Meanwhile Bayern Munich are represented by Jamal Musiala, and Thomas Muller.