News (engl.)

Germany will be aiming to carry the momentum from their 2-0 win against Serbia into their upcoming Nations League fixture against Greece in Thessaloniki on Sunday (20:45 CEST). After a 1-0 defeat in the reverse leg in Augsburg, Jürgen Klopp’s side are hoping to take all three points this time around. During Saturday’s pre-match press conference the head coach and midfielder Aleksandar Pavlović answered questions from the media about the opponent, the choice of goalkeeper and how they are preparing to face Greece again. 

Jürgen Klopp on...

…the upcoming trip to Greece: We want to try to get a much better result than in the reverse fixture. We tried to do a lot in that game, some of which worked, but it wasn’t enough to beat Greece. Their victory wasn’t undeserved, after all. We looked a lot better against Serbia. If we’re able to show more of that again, then we will prove to be a more difficult opponent for Greece this time around. 

…the starting goalkeeper: At the moment, it looks as though we won’t make any changes and that Jonas Urbig will play. All of the goalkeepers that we’d called up are playing regularly for their respective clubs. Jonas hasn’t been doing that at Bayern, which is why we want to give him a second game. All of the goalkeepers in our squad have made a strong impression, and I don’t foresee there being any issues for us in this area. They all performed extremely well in training. However, this decision has nothing to do with the status of our first-choice goalkeeper. 

…changes to the starting line-up: We want to send out a team that stands a good chance of winning the game. You’ll have to wait and see how many changes we’ll need to make it order to do that. Every player in the squad would deserve to play tomorrow. The atmosphere and quality in has been excellent. I just said to ‘Pavlo’ that  there’s he can’t talk his way out of the team today either (laughs). 

...Serge Gnabry’s departure from the team: Serge played in all of our games and featured as we had planned. After playing 45 minutes in our third game, he started to feel the strain. We then took him off at half-time because we didn’t want to rush things. He could have stayed with the squad but we thought that it would make sense to give him two or three days before he returns to training with Bayern again. 

...Greece: They have several strong attacking players that all play for top clubs. They are all good players, in addition to being quick and knowing how to score goals. They’re all of a good age still, all in their early to mid-twenties. They’re simply a strong team. It’s always difficult to say for certain, but we have a good idea of how they will look to play against us on Sunday.

…preparing for Sunday’s match: The lads will be shown footage of the Greece versus Netherlands game. So far in training, we’ve worked on what we want to do and what we should do. We’re now combining those two elements and then will look to implement it on the pitch tomorrow. The way Greece will play will also depend on how we play. If we play well, then Greece will need to defend in a low block. We  saw in Augsburg already that they are well used to doing that. 

Aleksandar Pavlovic on...

…looking forward to the game: Anyone who knows anything about Greece knows that the atmosphere in the stadium will be good. That will be true tomorrow as well, even if there are only going to be 30,000 people there. We’re all looking forward to it and can’t wait for the game.

…playing alongside Bischof and Wirtz: It was a lot of fun getting to play with both of them against Serbia. All three of us are strong on the ball and we were able to help each other out when we didn’t have the ball as well. Flo was able to do what he wanted to in attack, while we also try to link up with one another. 

…his preferred position with the national team: The coach is the one who decides where I play. I want to be able to showcase my qualities while on the pitch, namely: seeing as much of the ball as possible, controlling the game, pressing hard, getting stuck into challenges and just helping the team in attack and in defence.