Jürgen Klopp and Jonathan Tah defend Florian Wirtz against criticism

Jürgen Klopp and Jonathan Tah have spoken out as vehement advocates for national soccer player Florian Wirtz, who continues to be critically assessed in England. "I think it's extreme how he's being picked on," said Tah, a former club colleague at Bayer Leverkusen, about his teammate in the national team before the international match against Greece on Sunday (8.45 p.m./ARD).

National coach Klopp actually didn't want to comment on Wirtz's question in order to avoid any further headlines, especially in England. There, the 23-year-old has been rated very differently at Klopp's former club Liverpool FC for more than a year. Finally, Klopp commented in detail about the offensive player's situation.

“It was simply a very unfavorable situation. And everyone who loves football still sees what an extraordinary player he is,” said Klopp. The problem for Wirtz in Liverpool after his move in the summer of 2025 was that he came into an unsettled team after the tragic accidental death of Diogo Jota. For many professionals, football was not the top priority due to the death of their colleague.

As a result, the expectations of Wirtz were even higher. “You come in as a new player and everyone immediately longs for someone to take the coals out of the fire. That’s just impossible,” said Klopp. Now Wirtz is “on the right track,” even if “things are never going fast enough for people.”

Wirtz will be helped with the national team. “We can’t do more than what we’re going to do here now, which is to integrate him into our team with enough training time,” said Klopp. The 23-year-old will not be in the starting line-up against Greece after just one practice session. That was “the worst thing” you could do, said the national coach.

Wirtz was originally intended for the squad in the second week of international matches. After Jamal Musiala tore his muscle fiber during the warm-up before the 1-1 draw against the Netherlands, he was brought into the DFB team early by Klopp on Friday.