This emotional climax against his old love Borussia Dortmund comes at the perfect time for Mario Götze. Three weeks before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, the 30-year-old will have another chance on Saturday (6.30 p.m. / Sky) to advertise himself on the huge Bundesliga stage.
And the chances of good advertising are very good: Götze and Eintracht Frankfurt have not only been in top form for weeks, but are also ahead of BVB after a third of the season and are currently in a Champions League spot.
Götze: "It will be a gigantic game in Dortmund"
"I spent my youth in Dortmund, played there for many years and had a lot of good moments. It will be a gigantic game," said Götze, whose appointment to the World Cup squad for Qatar is being called for more and more loudly. This is not due to nostalgia or heroic declaration of the 2014 World Cup winning goal scorer, but to Götze's achievements at Eintracht. In a 3-4-2-1 system, he appears in the offensive half-position with great game intelligence and so much technical finesse that many protagonists say: Such an element could also help Flick and Germany at the World Cup.
Record national player Lothar Matthäus recently said: "I could imagine that he has a huge chance of making the squad. He has outstanding skills and has shown again that he belongs to the national team." Götze is on the highway to the World Cup: Eindhoven, Frankfurt, Doha. The playmaker, who was once considered a miracle talent, would not have expected that the move to the Bundesliga could fuel his career so quickly.
According to a "Bild" report, Götze is said to have refused a return to the national team in September, for which he has not played since 2017. But Flick does not seem to give up, put the professional on his pre-selection list with a total of 55 names and is watching him closely. Last Saturday, Flick sat in the stands for Eintracht's 3-1 win in Gladbach, and a few days later the national coach also saw Frankfurt's 2-1 win against Marseille in the premier class.
Flick, who knows Götze from his days as assistant coach to Joachim Löw, must have been impressed by how easily Götze and striker Randal Kolo Muani combined the winning goal in the Champions League. "It's just magical how Mario plays. He's everywhere on the pitch," said Kolo Muani about Götze, who was voted "Man of the Match" on Wednesday. Together with the Dane Jesper Lindström and Germany's World Cup group opponent Daichi Kamada from Japan, they are currently forming what is probably the fastest offensive in the Bundesliga. Dortmund should now also feel this and be further left behind in the table.
The media hype is getting bigger every day
Götze is keen to keep the topic of the national team small. "It's not an issue for me. I concentrate on my games and issues," said the former Bayern and Dortmund professional. It's been like this since it was presented in Frankfurt in June. The difference is: At that time there was no real basis for Götze in the national team. That's different now. In addition, the media hype is increasing day by day. The World Cup is just around the corner.
In any case, the former World Cup hero has not regretted the move from Eindhoven to the Main. "I feel super happy. I'm fit, I'm happy here. It's a great challenge to play all three competitions. All in all - the package is right." Flick can be sure that the grounded idol would not make a big fuss even as a supplementary player in the World Cup squad. After such a long time and in view of the tough competition from young stars Jamal Musiala, Thomas Müller, Leroy Sané and Serge Gnabry, Flick Götze could not guarantee a regular place with certainty.
