Klopp celebrates after Serbia win, Portugal celebrates without Ronaldo
In the Olympiastadion in Munich there was an unusually quiet murmur until the German team scored the 2-0 against Serbia – a match-winner from Florian Wirtz, which ended Jürgen Klopp's historically poor start.
Germany's Victory over Serbia
Tom Bischof scored in the 39th minute, followed by a powerful shot from Florian Wirtz in the 61st minute, which sealed the result. Serge Gnabry took the captain's armband for the first time and led the team from the start.
Portugal Triumphs Without Ronaldo
In Copenhagen Portugal beat Denmark 4-2, although Cristiano Ronaldo left the team camp the evening before and flew to Madrid on a private jet. Rafael Leão wore the iconic number 7, Joao Cancelo scored in the 13th minute, Gonçalo Ramos in the 25th, Vitinha with a header in the 67th and Joao Felix sealed the game in the 87th.
Reactions from Klopp and Mertesacker
Jürgen Klopp, 59 years old, said after the win: “That goes into my archive. We’ll make a video with it.” He added: “The gegenpressing has gone through the roof today” and emphasized that this “is what we want to play”, but warned: “We don’t want to lose our heads now.”
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Future DFB chief executive Per Mertesacker praised the result as a “small breakthrough” and said: “For him personally it was also important to start the third game with a win. I think that was the starting gun now.”
The German eleven took the field with a completely changed personnel, which compared to the previous matches against the Netherlands (1-1) and Greece (0-1) looked markedly stronger. The team showed pressure from the start, while the Serbian defenders were almost exclusively carrying out defensive duties.
In the same Nations League group the Netherlands drew 2-2 with Greece in Thessaloniki, with Virgil van Dijk scoring in the 59th minute from a corner and Tijjani Reijnders equalising in the 89th minute. Wales beat Norway 2-1, with a red card for Torbjörn Heggem shaping the match.
The win marks Klopp’s first triumph as head coach and thus ends the worry about another poor start. For the German national team the result brings new confidence and raises the bar for the upcoming Nations League matches.