"Suddenly it says above the door: 'Ronaldo's room'": Under-21 striker Nicolo Tresoldi reveals curious incident

Nicolo Tresoldi is chasing records with Germany Under-21s. And where could a striker find more inspiration than from one of the most successful goalscorers in history?

At the stylish Hotel Klosterpforte in Marienburg near Harsewinkel in East Westphalia, the 22-year-old has spent the past few days in precisely the room where Cristiano Ronaldo once stayed.

He had "a little bit of luck" with the room allocation, Tresoldi said in an interview with ran before Tuesday's decisive European Championship qualifier (6pm/ProSieben Maxx) in Bielefeld against Georgia. "That was a coincidence. I just got my room key, went there and suddenly above the door it says: 'Ronaldo's room'. There are a lot of pictures of him hanging there. I'm a Messi fan, but it's still nice."

During Euro 2024, Ronaldo based himself there with the Portugal national team in East Westphalia. Two years later, Germany's Under-21s want to seal their European Championship ticket with a win and, with his 16 goals, Tresoldi can close in on Pierre Littbarski's Under-21 record of 18. Only after the finals in the summer in Albania and Serbia (16 June to 3 July) does he want to decide between Germany and his country of birth Italy, as he reiterated again on Monday.

Which senior national team will Tresoldi play for in future?

"I will definitely play at the Under-21 European Championship if we qualify, but I assume we will," said Tresoldi. He added that he has had no recent contact with Germany head coach Jürgen Klopp. His heart was "50:50", he had explained at the start of the training camp, and "not much has changed" about that.

That is also why they are "leaving him alone as much as possible for now", selection coach Antonio Di Salvo said. The captain's armband, which Tresoldi had taken over in the absence of Tom Bischof, was "already enough of a sign of where I would like to see him at some point". Tresoldi is "a classic centre-forward, we don't have many of those. He is definitely good enough to play for the senior national team."

His team-mates see it the same way. Tresoldi is "simply a very laid-back guy who just loves football and will always stay the way he is", said Under-21 defender Joshua Quarshie: "We all benefit a lot from him."