Football game being played. - Rüdiger guarantees Real's lethal mentality.
Meet the coach of the Basketball World Champions' team and Champions League winners, Toni Kroos and Antonio Rüdiger for the first time on the field, and listen to Julian Nagelsmann's open desire to win the European Championship: As the European Championship trial game against Greece approaches, the German national football team's training ground feels the excitement of a possible big win. For Nagelsmann, the recent goal drought in the Ukraine test was not a major issue anymore.
During a press event after a training session, Rüdiger reminisced about his most memorable football experience - not his recent win in the Champions League with Real Madrid but the Confederations Cup 2017 victory. He shared this sentiment with the German fans' nostalgia. "That was my most beautiful moment," he said.
Even though Rüdiger and Kroos are famous for their triumph in the Champions League, Nagelsmann believes that they will bring more than just inspiration and excitement to the EM team. They are also expected to inculcate the killer instinct - that special ability to win games even in challenging situations.
Nagelsmann gives free rein to his players' thoughts, allowing them to dream about the upcoming European Championship. Talking about the upcoming games, the coach said in a podcast that they should fantasize about being in the final or even winning the whole tournament.
The arrival of Rudi Völler, the coach for the German basketball world champions, provided an unusual session for Nagelsmann. Völler is known to Nagelsmann as his role model in terms of winning major tournaments, and this meeting marked an important learning experience. Just after a documentary on the German Basketball team, Nagelsmann had discussed how their clear-cut roles and pre-tournament training had led to their success. Similarly, Nagelsmann has applied this philosophy in the national team. Rüdiger added, "Everyone knows where they are. Then, there are no complications."
Rüdiger missed his first encounter with Völler because he wanted to groom himself for a press conference. He is excited about learning from the basketball coach, "We can learn a lot from the basketball boys, who had a great success." Kroos, on the other hand, followed Nagelsmann's advice and became a leader after learning it from the coach.
A total of 27 players attended the training session, reuniting after ten days of individual practice. Maximilian Mittelstadt was absent to control his load, as was U21 guest player Brajan Gruda with muscle issues. After the Greece trial on Friday, Nagelsmann hopes to finalize his EM squad of 26 players. If something goes wrong in the opening game against Scotland or other matches, the coach has a backup plan in place. "We have a backup plan, where if we have to score a goal in the last ten minutes, they know what they have to do," said the coach.
