"It will still be a misunderstanding in 100 years": Controversial discussions after Jürgen Klopp's Germany debut – new national coach jokes about the son of a Bayern legend

Germany coach Jürgen Klopp could not understand the hosts' displeasure over the build-up to Germany's opening goal after the 1-1 draw in the Netherlands on his international debut.

"It will still be a misunderstanding in 100 years' time that the spectators expect the ball to be kicked out of play," Klopp told RTL. The incident came after Dutch centre-forward Brian Brobbey went down hurt, but Germany played on and, with Oranje temporarily a man short, did not put the ball out. At the end of the move came Felix Nmecha's goal for 1-0 in the 32nd minute.

"But the lads are actually instructed to keep playing," Klopp explained, insisting it was by no means a lack of fair play from his captain Joshua Kimmich and co. as they carried on. His counterpart, the new Bondscoach Xavi, saw "a mixture" of cleverness and a lack of fair play in the DFB team's actions.

Xavi also brought the official, his Spanish compatriot Alejandro Jose Hernandez Hernandez, into it: "The referee already had the whistle at his mouth and a few of our players therefore stopped playing," Xavi criticised, while also stressing: "It was not a big deal either."

Former Netherlands international Rafael van der Vaart took a far stronger view and called Germany's decision to play on "unsporting" on broadcaster NOS. Kimmich, though, was matter-of-fact: "We were absolutely right to keep playing." Any call to stop the game would have been the referee's job, the Bayern star said, "and I didn't hear any whistle."

Then Kimmich fired back at the accusation from the Oranje captain that Germany's decision to play on had been a disgrace: "I think that is not a considered answer from him."

DFB team: what is the situation with Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala?

Shortly before Nmecha's opener, Klopp had to take off a key player early in Kai Havertz, whose back thigh was twinging. Jamal Musiala, who had been due to start, was unable to play at all after muscular problems in the warm-up: "They are both having an MRI, I hope we still get a diagnosis this evening," the new national coach said after the final whistle about the two injured players. He did not expect to be able to rely on the duo in Sunday's upcoming match against Greece either: "I hope it is nothing serious. For us they are probably out, but hopefully they will be available again quickly afterwards."

Germany held their slender lead until just before the end, but in stoppage time the Netherlands got their deserved equaliser through Cody Gakpo. Substitute Ruben van Bommel, son of former Bayern star Mark van Bommel, supplied the eye-catching assist with a wonderful outside-of-the-boot cross. "I asked little van Bommel where he got that from," Klopp revealed, before joking in the direction of his father: "He didn't get it from his father, that outside-of-the-boot must come from his mother."

Why was Virgil van Dijk's goal for the Netherlands disallowed?

One other moment also sparked major controversy alongside the DFB team's opening goal: after just under a quarter of an hour, defensive leader van Dijk appeared to have headed the Netherlands in front from a corner. The goal was ruled out after a VAR intervention because, in the officials' view, Oranje attacker Brobbey had illegally stopped Germany goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen from coming out in the six-yard box, a harsh decision.

"That is an absolute disgrace," fumed van der Vaart. "It is unbelievable," because Brobbey is "hardly doing anything. Of course you are allowed to make contact. The goalkeeper cannot do whatever he wants. It was simply a very poor goalkeeping performance," van der Vaart said. Klopp disagreed and pointed to Brobbey's enormous robustness: "He's almost square and Marc has no chance of getting past him. It's a great corner, but it's a foul. That is how it has to be given now," Klopp said, referring to the fact that goalkeepers had recently again enjoyed stronger protection in the six-yard box at the World Cup.

Giving his verdict on the premiere under Klopp, centre-back Jonathan Tah said: "Of course we would have liked to win, there were chances at both ends. But when you are 1-0 up, you want to get it over the line. We took a good first step, the game was brutally intense. Not everything was perfect, but that was not the point. We want to start showing a different face on the pitch. And today was the first step towards that." Tah also singled out right-back Philipp Treu of SC Freiburg, who made his international debut: "I would like to highlight Pippo. The way he marched up and down the line was madness. Really top for a first international," Tah said.

Next up on Sunday is Germany's meeting with Greece on matchday two of the 2026/27 Nations League season, when Klopp will make his home debut on the national team's bench in Augsburg. "The focus was very much on defending and on pressing, on how we want to put the opponent under pressure," Kimmich said about the first training sessions under Klopp. "It was about finding a certain basic structure without the ball. That is then the basis for us to improve with the ball as well."