Rain in Belgrade makes Jürgen Klopp marvel at Brajan Gruda's debut

Cold, wet weather pounded on Friday evening over Belgrade's Rajko‑Mitić‑Stadium, while only 5 000 Serbian children and 70 German fans watched the scene. In this unusual setting, the 22‑year‑old Leipzig professional player Brajan Gruda immediately scored the decisive goal for the 3:1 victory of the German A‑national team against Serbia, which even left Jürgen Klopp astonished.

Large parts of the spectator stands remained empty due to a UEFA sanction on the Serbian association. In front of a special backdrop, the DFB eleven against Serbia showed no shame. William Laing reported from Belgrade on the events.

Gruda's impressive debut

The 22‑year‑old Leipzig professional player Brajan Gruda repeatedly took the ball in the first 86 minutes, dribbled, crossed and looked for a finish. Shortly after the break he continued his solo and scored the decisive goal for the 3‑1 win.

Five minutes after the restart he dribbled meter after meter over the slippery grass, was not stopped by any Serbian defender and finished on the pitch with a low shot into the lower right corner of the goal.

At the RTL microphone Gruda explained: “My dribbles, I don’t think much about them, I just do it.”

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Jürgen Klopp gave a lot of praise, called the strike “madness” and praised Gruda as an extraordinary talent, but added a big “but”. He warned that the player sometimes dribbles too often and thereby loses confidence.

At the subsequent press conference the 59‑year‑old national coach explained that he does not want to keep Gruda from one‑on‑one duels, but the danger would be that a dribbler constantly changes the game and loses confidence.

Against Serbia Gruda recorded 14 dribbles with a success rate of 60 percent, almost three times as many as his teammate Derry Scherhant, who showed only five dribbles on the left side.

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Thus the Leipzig winger showed that he can provide immediate offensive support for the German national team, while Klopp now considers further integration of his dribbling talent.