The draw for the first knockout round of both the Champions League and Europa League have been conducted and here is a look at whom the German teams left in the competition have drawn. Interestingly, all four Bundesliga teams competing in the group stages qualified from their respective groups while Hoffenheim and Leverkusen also made it out of their Europa League groups. That’s six German sides still in the competition- the exception being Wolfsburg, who were eliminated in the EL playoffs.

Continue reading German sides face to face tough opposition in European knockouts →

Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka has often been vocal in his political views, and in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt (Welt am Sonntag) today (December 20, 2020), has criticised the country’s far-right leaning AfD party (Alternative for Germany/Alternative fur Deutschland)

Goretzka said for the AfD “Die AfD ist keine Alternative, sondern eine Schande für Deutschland“

Goretzka also said that their behaviour in the Coronavirus crisis had made it very clear to him what kind of party they were, and added that the AfD was supported by Holocaust revisionists & Corona deniers.

Goretzka talked about his meeting with Holocaust survivor Margot Friedlander in Berlin in November and said that Germans must ensure that “such a thing never happens again”

Goretzka quoted the legendary Fritz Walter, who said German national team players were effectively “foreign ministers” in shorts, and said footballers had to use their position to raise awareness on subjects like this.

The Welt paper carries the full Goretzka interview, but is behind a paywall online.