After the successful start into the European Championship qualification, midfielder Ilkay Gündogan (28) sees the German national team again in the extended world top.
“The last games definitely went in the right direction”, the professional of the English champion Manchester City told the SID: “We are certainly not the top favourite for the European Championship win 2020 at the moment, but I don’t see any other team with whom I would say: Phew, no – we have no chance against them at the moment.”
However, the team “lost the ease to win against supposedly lighter opponents in a confident manner. Especially against very deep opponents”, Gündogan admitted. In this regard, the two upcoming European Championship qualifiers on Saturday in Belarus and three days later in Mainz against Estonia (both at 8.45 pm) will be the acid test.
“Unfortunately, we all know too well from the 2018 World Cup what can happen if you have won almost certainly on paper,” said Gündogan and warned against excessively high expectations: “These classic canters’ victories in international matches as they did perhaps 15 or 20 years ago are now virtually non-existent. These teams have all caught up enormously.”
