Misfortune struck Marc-Andre Ter Stegen when he suffered a tear in his left hamstring only days after joining Girona on loan from FC Barcelona in the January transfer window. The 33-year-old goalkeeper underwent surgery to treat the problem in Finland and is now staring at a lengthy spell out on the sidelines. Reports suggest that Ter Stegen could be out for at least three months, making it unlikely that he will play much this season.
Germany was in need of a good performance and Luxembourg was the right squad for the moment. The team spirit appeared to be much higher than the last international where the German were flat and the renewed energy helped power the team to a 4-0 victory. An early red card played a massive role in the outcome, but Germany likely would have rolled easily even without being a man-up for three quarters of the match.
Germany came into the contest reeling from Thursday's shock 2-0 defeat in Slovakia, their third consecutive defeat leading to stinging criticism of Nagelsmann in the German press. They quickly set about dominating the ball in the early stages and took a seventh-minute lead through Gnabry, Northern Ireland's nemesis six years ago when he scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 win in Frankfurt.
"We all know things didn't go so well (against Slovakia). But I'd rather lose the first one than lose the important ones later. Of course, he (Nagelsmann) is still the right one. We shouldn't throw everything after one game. I'm convinced we'll play better tonight. We should talk more about football in Germany, and not only transfers, transfers, transfers. If we do that then we'll play better," Hoeneß said during an appearance on SPORT1-Doppelpass (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
