Over Joshua Kimmich: Germany coach Jürgen Klopp talks himself into a rage during Bayern Munich v Arsenal

Jürgen Klopp was not at all happy that the simmering debate over Joshua Kimmich’s standing in the Germany national team was also a talking point during Bayern Munich’s clash with Arsenal.

Kimmich missed the match because of a family bereavement. As in the previous two internationals, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Tom Bischof occupied the centre of midfield for the German record champions in their 2-2 draw with last year's finalists from London. Asked at half-time on DAZN how the pair had played, the Germany coach grew irate.

"They are top-class partners who can play brilliantly together," Klopp replied at first, before raising his voice as he addressed Kimmich's absence: "I just think it is utterly disrespectful to talk about that today. We cannot do so without it then being turned into a Kimmich issue as well."

Klopp stressed that Kimmich was an "outstanding midfielder" who "will always have a place in our team". Nevertheless, the Germany team needed "more than one midfielder", the 59-year-old added: "This is a debate that only happens in this country, where, if someone does not start once, people say he will never play again. That is really crazy." After all, a good team needed "more than one, ideally four, five, six, to be able to play football in a particular way."

In the 2-0 win against Serbia and the 0-0 draw in Greece, Pavlovic and Bischof had done "superbly", Klopp said. "But that does not mean it cannot work with Jo Kimmich, or with Felix Nmecha, or with Mika Baur, or with Jannik Engelhardt. They did really well too." For him and his coaching staff, it was important "that we know who we have and who we then select, that is another matter entirely." Klopp concluded: "There is no fundamental issue there at all."

Joshua Kimmich asked Jürgen Klopp in vain to let him stay

For his first training camp, Klopp had originally named 44 players and divided them into two squads. Kimmich was in the first group. After disappointing performances away to the Netherlands (1-1) and in the first match against Greece (0-1), most were due to head home. Only a handful stayed for the second half. Kimmich was not among them, although he had explicitly asked Klopp to let him stay.

"Yes, he did ask a few more times," Klopp confirmed shortly before the Serbia match, adding with a wink: "But I can tell Jo this: the more often you ask, the less likely you are to get what you want." Klopp also sought to head off a debate. "He made a great impression and is a terrific captain. Everything is fine." Instead, he wanted to see the many new faces in his squad "when the established players are not there for once", and joked: "The Kimmich family are on a family holiday now. I hope he actually takes it, to be honest."

Bischof and Pavlovic's convincing performance alongside Florian Wirtz fuelled the debate. Some pundits and former internationals even called for Kimmich to leave the national team. Earlier, Kimmich's departure from the camp had drawn most of the criticism, even though Klopp had announced the arrangement when he named his squads.

Klopp will name a smaller squad for the next training camp, and Kimmich is expected to be in it. The squad is due to be announced in early November, before the return matches against Serbia (13.11.) and the Netherlands (16.11.) bring the Nations League group stage to a close.