“I will do anything to stop him from dribbling,” says Klopp about his discovery

It wasn't a ratings hit, but what counted in the end for Jürgen Klopp and his players was the victory. The 3:1 (2:0) against Serbia attracted the fewest TV viewers in the era of the new national coach. An average of 7.374 million saw the success in Belgrade on RTL on Friday evening.

The 1-0 defeat against Greece had the most television viewers in the five international matches since the World Cup with 10.97 million on ARD. “Walk for Germany: Sad performance from Serbia,” was the headline in the Serbian newspaper “Sportklub”. And NOS from the Netherlands summed up: “Germany is warming up for Oranje with a clear win in Serbia.” The Netherlands, who defeated Greece 7-0 in the parallel game, are their next opponents on Monday evening in Berlin (8:45 p.m., in the WELT sports ticker).

Brajan Gruda played a large part in the success in Belgrade. After the game, the 22-year-old ran through the long players' tunnel wearing his black premiere jersey with the number 10. He held the shirt in his hand like a trophy because he confirmed his improving form on his debut for the German A team.

Teammates go into raptures when they see Gruda

Gruda was preferred on the right wing over Lennart Karl from FC Bayern - and repaid the trust placed in him with a wonderful goal after 50 minutes. He started a solo game in his own half. RTL expert Lothar Matthäus compared the goal with his own in the 3-1 win against Yugoslavia (4-1) at the 1990 World Cup opener in Milan.

"A great player, with very, very great talent. That was his first game today and the first goal. He can be proud of that," praised teammate Kai Havertz. Niclas Füllkrug also raved: "He has very good timing in his dribbling. He has an incredibly good touch, an incredibly good timing for when he has to put the ball forward for the next step, when he goes inside, when he goes outside. A highly talented footballer."

Gruda was already very close to a place in the squad at the 2024 European Championships, but at that time he was “only” involved in preparation. Now he was allowed to make his debut. "He set the bar relatively high, it was an extraordinary debut. I'm very happy for him," said national coach Jürgen Klopp, praising the Leipzig player, who is a "street footballer and gambler".

The only problem, the 59-year-old analyzed, "that outstanding dribblers can have is that you're always just dribbling. (...) But I'll do anything to stop him from dribbling. There's no question that Brajan can play like that. What Brajan has shown is Brajan Gruda. We're just working on making him more variable. And we'll work on his transition behavior. It was great against Serbia. I think everyone in Leipzig is looking forward to how often he plays here Defensively switched over.”

Gruda successfully completed nine of his 14 dribbles in the game against Serbia. In the past ten years, only one German national player has had more successful dribbles than him in a single game: Jamal Musiala with 13 against Costa Rica at the 2022 World Cup.

Gruda revealed that he would of course take the premiere jersey with him. It's the first one. “It will be kept well,” he said on Saturday night, as the German Football Association entourage made its way back to Nuremberg. From there we took a bus to the team headquarters in Herzogenaurach, where the last training session will take place in the evening at Adidas' home ground. Up to 1,500 fans are expected at the session, which starts at 5 p.m. On Sunday we finally go to Berlin, where the final for progress in the Nations League takes place on Monday evening in the Olympic Stadium.