Because of an injury to a team-mate at Bayern Munich: Joshua Kimmich sensed his chance - Eberl criticises "absurd" debates
Joshua Kimmich's role in the Germany team was one of the big topics of the international break. After Bayern Munich's 2-2 draw against Augsburg, Kimmich himself and Max Eberl commented.
Joshua Kimmich's return to Augsburg with Bayern Munich brought him straight back to the place where the latest debate around him had started. Nine days earlier, Kimmich had delivered a highly unfortunate display in Germany's 1-0 defeat to Greece in Augsburg.
Afterwards, the 31-year-old captain had to leave as planned as part of the squad reshuffle. In his absence, his Munich team-mates Aleksandar Pavlovic and Tom Bischof impressed in Germany's midfield. Fans and pundits quickly began debating whether Kimmich is still needed at all in the Germany national team.
"Honestly, I didn't follow it at all. But you still notice that there was a bit going on," said Kimmich on his return to Augsburg. Bayern Munich could only draw 2-2 in a wild game, and Kimmich, as usual alongside Pavlovic, put in a decent performance in central midfield.
Referring to his many years as a regular starter for Germany, Kimmich struck a deliberately relaxed tone about the debate: "I've been involved for 11 years now. I know how the business works. The only thing I can and have to focus on is my performance. That's what I do. That's what I've done for the last 11 years. That's what I'll continue to do. In the end, the best always play. Over the last ten years, I've done quite a good job of being among the best."
Max Eberl fumes over "absurd" debates about Joshua Kimmich
Meanwhile, board member for sport Max Eberl leapt to Kimmich's defence. "I followed the fact that Joshua Kimmich's qualities were being questioned. I find that absolutely absurd," said Eberl. "He is a leader who leads from the front. Yes, he is somehow also the face of a team who have not been so successful at tournaments in recent years. But Joshua Kimmich is an outstanding German player for me. We should be glad that we have a player like that in our ranks."
Kimmich himself had actually been desperate to stay with the DFB team after the mistake against Greece and made that wish known both publicly and internally. But Germany coach Jürgen Klopp stood firm and even fuelled the debates further with a flippant remark. "I can say this to Jo," Klopp explained: "The more often you ask, the less likely you are to get what you want."
By his own account, Kimmich is not annoyed by Klopp's approach and statement. The chance to stay, despite the poor performance against Greece, apparently came after the very first international against the Netherlands (1-1). That was because of the injury to his Munich team-mate Jamal Musiala. He had actually been supposed to stay with the squad for the entire international period, but then suffered a muscle fibre tear in the warm-up against the Netherlands and had to leave.
"After that, I thought: Jamal was planned in for both weeks, maybe another door will open," Kimmich explained. But apart from Finn Dahmen, Nico Schlotterbeck and Serge Gnabry, only the three debutants Philipp Treu, Yannik Engelhardt and Bambase Conte ultimately remained in the squad after the reshuffle instead of Kimmich.
