U21 in Flicks World Cup look: Popeye Schlotterbeck number 6

Whether Nico Schlotterbeck eats a lot of spinach has not been reliably delivered. When Freiburg's defensive shooting star as well as more and more likely to put its striking goalkeeper, the muscle mountains showed the poor on the comic heroes Popeye.

• Flick relies on U21 European champion
• by junior to world champion - like 2009?

Hansi Flick is also the positive physical and playful development of the 22-year-old not escaped this season. It fits exactly with the unmistakable guidelines for his Qatar candidates, still a bit more working in the current World Cup year.

Flick relies on U21 European champion

"He puts good accents," said the national coach over the left foot. And promised: "He will definitely do his first game, that's in planning." Should Schlotterbeck celebrate his debut on Saturday (20:45 o'clock / ZDF) in Sinsheim against Israel in the football national team, he is already the sixth U-21 European champion from the previous year, which in the first eight games under Flick in the A -Elf ran.

Hoffenheim's David Room has three international matches and sees the development of junior champions very positive. "Personally, the U21 has brought a lot, that we made it with a few players to the a national team, of course, is great," said room: "If you have a seat together, that's nice."

In room hometadion in Sinsheim he could form the left half of the four-chain with Schlotterbeck. Just as at the successful summer days 2021, when the German U21 selection under coach Stefan Kuntz with great team spirit as a trump toolted the EM title.

Florian Wirtz, Karim Adeyemi, Lukas Nmchea and Ridle Baku are besides room the other actors of this Kuntz eleven, which were already used in the World Cup season of Flick and have a Qatar perspective. Anton Stach is for the first time for the current squad. His Mainz Club colleague Jonathan Burkhardt and the Cologne Salih Özcan were named by the national coach as promising junior staff.

by junior to world champion - like 2009?

Comparisons with the Golden Generation The 2009 Junior European Championship winner crowd. At that time, Manuel's new, Jérôme Boateng, Dennis Aogo, Sami Khedira and Mesut Özil only a year after the title in the Great Umbruch under national coach Joachim Löw equal to the Jump to the World Cup in South Africa and started there. Everyone except Aogo was even world champion in Rio de Janeiro in 2014.

Flank specialist space has already made the right career step with the change from SpVGG Greuther Fürth to Hoffenheim. Schlotterbeck, who has scored four Bundesliga goals since December, must just weigh them. At Borussia Dortmund and even Bayern Munich, he is traded as a candidate in the large defender carousel. His contract in Breisgau is still running until mid-2023. Maybe another year in Freiburg career-friendly. Regular assignments would increase its World Cup opportunities - muscle shows of course included.