Such a series is unusual for the German model student. Joshua Kimmich has traveled to the national team with four games without a win in a row and can now switch off a bit at the training camp in Frankfurt/Main from the recent stressful days in Munich and the personnel debates about Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann.
Kimmich, 27 years old and something of a model of consistency in the defensive midfield of the record champions and the national team, had to take a position on Tuesday afternoon about the current problems at his employer. “Of course you always prefer to join the national team when you have two or three wins behind you,” said Kimmich before the international match in the Nations League against Hungary on Friday (8.45 p.m., ZDF and live ticker on welt.de).
“You get really angry, especially because I don’t think the defeat and the draw before that were necessary,” explained Kimmich: “We always had a number of chances to score. It’s still a bit in the back of your mind, we don’t have the chance to do better in the club, but in the national team, where we have a different team, a different starting point.”
Apparently, the leading player cannot completely ignore the debate in discussions with his colleagues. “They really hit it, you only get sayings all the time,” said Kimmich with an ironic undertone – and then clarified: “No, so far nothing has actually happened. Of course, you hear a little something from Niki (Niklas Süle, who switched from Bayern to BVB in the summer, the Red), he’s crawling out now. You concentrate on performing with the national team,” says Kimmich.
“Of course, as a Bayern player, you want to be at the top. This makes the Bundesliga a little more interesting for the neutral fan. Dortmund in particular have mostly won their games and are above us. Nevertheless, the season is of course still long. Now it’s all about winning our games with the national team.”
After the duel with Hungary, the classic game against England follows (Monday, 8:45 p.m.). “It’s always about the way you play football. But at the end of the day, as we saw at Bayern, it’s all about results,” Kimmich clarified. Therefore, the 5-2 victory in June in the Nations League against Italy was important, which gave the team self-confidence. “That’s what it’s going to be about now,” said Kimmich. “We want to win our group, we haven’t always performed so well in the Nations League recently.”
