THE REPORT “As footballers, Germans are reliable and safe”

The physical and fast game is back. Quick transitions. The feeling of manifest superiority. The selection is in a phase of doubt. His commitment to copying the organizational model of Spanish football and making La Roja's style of play his own came out perfectly. The tracing was so good that he won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil only four years after Spain won in South Africa.

Joaquim Löw finds himself in a dilemma. He does not have footballers to continue playing touch and possession game, but he does not want to renounce the ideas that worked so well for him: to be a protagonist and lead the games. Try a mixture. Bet on young players who have made a dent in their respective teams. Some have made the leap to the Premier as is the case with Havertz and Werner.

Although it has not been the market where historically the most Spanish clubs were to buy players throughout history, -the mark was very expensive compared to the peseta- The Spanish League can boast of having had Teutonic footballers of proven quality in its clubs. Those chosen, without having cost a fortune, offered a good performance and made a career.

There are the cases in the 70s. The Netzer, Stielike, Breitner, Bonhof. Later the Schuster, Illgner, Metzelder, Khedira, Özil … And today Ter Stegen and Kroos they more than maintain the demand of the always valued German football. Traditionally, Real Madrid has been the club that has looked the most towards Germany: Netzer, Stielike, Breitner, Illgner, Metzelder, Khedira, Özil, Kroos… and Schuster, after passing through Barcelona, ​​played at the Bernabéu.

If it is necessary to point out a German par excellence in Spanish football, this is none other than Bernd Schuster (Augsburg, Germany, 60 years old). The only one who has played in the big three of all time: Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and Atlético. Eight years as a blaugrana (1980-88), two in white (1988-90) and three as a rojiblanco (1990-93) for a total of 13 seasons in which he left a mark of his infinite individual quality, backed in the first years by an exuberant physical and technical condition and in recent seasons for his ease in adapting to his 'other' football conditions, even to play as a libero in a defense of three. Of course, the ball never stopped running with as much precision as intuition.

Bernardo takes the floor. “In Spanish football, the Germans have shown that we are reliable, safe, professional, men of our house and of little night… That's how we are. I am the first surprised to have been 13 seasons in LaLiga. I did not expect. I'm not one to spend a lot of time in one place, I get bored quickly, but this time I knew how to hold on. Possibly the reason was that I changed clubs and was in three great teams. I was not one of those players on a team for life. Going from one to another had more motivations. He may be the only one who has played for Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and Atlético, a source of pride too ”.

As he himself says, he no longer knows whether he is German or Spanish. “There they tell me that I am Spanish and here they keep calling me‘ German ’. I left very young at the age of 20 and then I have only returned sporadically. Two years at Bayer Leverkusen (1993-95) as a player and then as a coach at Fortuna and Cologne before signing for Jerez as coach. Since then they haven't called me to work. Many days I wonder why? But I'm not going to bang my head against the wall. Here I have my house, my family, everything… but I would have liked to train more in the Bundesliga. “

From Madrid, he maintains his relationship with German football. He watches the Bundesliga regularly and talks to his remaining contacts in his country of birth. He has always defended that the mixture of Spanish and German football would be lethal due to the qualities of the footballers of the two countries.

“That was the reason why there was a moment when Joachim Löw came to Spain to learn things. Spanish football has a great variety of tactics. When I say that I would like to work in German football it is because I think that after so many years I could export that wealth of styles that exists here and I have accumulated in the many years that I have been in Spain. If I have coached Real Madrid, I think I could train there. Germans are sometimes more rigid in that sense. Of course German football is changing and learning a lot, but it does not yet have the variants that we have here. The mix between one football and another would be perfect. “

Recognize that Germany won the 2014 World Cup playing Spanish. “We found ourselves good 'gamers' from the center of the field to the front: Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Özil, Götze … Lahm joined the middle. We went to the line four behind. That was unthinkable before. Now it mixes with the defense of three and nothing happens. I have never agreed that historically German football has only been physical. We have also had good players, especially organizers: Beckenbauer, Netzer, Overath, Magath… then Matthäus. Real gamers, top of the line. What happens is that we ran so much, we jumped so much, we fought so much that it seemed that we did not play football … “

Of the new team, the one that will face Spain on Tuesday, he has his doubts. “It is a team in formation. Löw tests with many players. There are injuries. No longer are the veterans Hummels, Müller, Boateng, who didn't play against Spain a couple of months ago. Kimmich will be missing, an important player, different, wherever he plays, as shown at Bayern. Possibly the best German player of the moment. “

And there will be the young footballer who most enters Schuster's eyes. You have COVID. “He would have been a player to watch, Havertz. He has taken an important step from Bayer Leverkusen to Chelsea. He is a very interesting boy to see on a higher level. He is versatile, has many things, good looks and has a goal. Very green but interesting. For me it is a half tip. I don't know how he will match up with Werner, who is a real nine, who moves along the entire line of the opposing defense, and looks well behind. I know the new kids less, they are coming in. Must see. Löw does well, these are the games where you can do this, but be careful in this case because you are playing against Spain. And if you put a cigar in a team like that, it doesn't suit you either. Spain also has new kids. They all do it like this. These kinds of matches are worth more to see players on one side and the other, more than the match itself and the result ”.

Whoever wins, Bernardo, can claim victory while waiting for an offer to return to training. He misses the bench and he is willing to leave Spain if necessary. As he says about “soccer nobody is leaving.” And he, less. He has earned it.

Historical statistics indicate that the selections of Spain and Germany have met 24 times and confirms that there is a before and after Antonio Maceda's header goal in the French Euro Cup 84. Until then the balance was smiling to the Germans: six wins, three draws and three defeats. Since then, La Roja laughs: four wins, three of them transcendent, five draws and three defeats.

At the World Cup in Italy 90, a phrase by English striker Gary Lineker became famous after suffering in their flesh the elimination in the semifinals at the feet of the Germans. “Soccer is a sport that the English invented, they play 11 against 11 and Germany always wins.” However, to contradict the now television commentator, as regards Spain in its duels with Germany, the wind changed course that warm night of June 20 in the Parc des Princes in Paris.

The third game of the group stage was played. Germany qualified for the semifinals with a draw and Spain could be worth it depending on the result of the other match between Portugal and Romania. The two teams were sailing on speculation. Portugal scored in Nantes, minute 81. Spain was no longer worth 0-0. From the Spanish bench they tried to explain it to their players with all kinds of gestures.

This is how the scorer told AS a few months ago. Antonio Maceda. “We were watching the other game and we did not stop looking at the bench. What I do? What I do? They told me to stay, not to go upstairs. And, suddenly, when there were five or six minutes left, they tell us “attack, attack.” Then comes the fault. I did not know whether or not to go. I tell Gallego not to serve, I'm going to go up. I almost did not arrive. In fact I'm late and that's why I finished from where I finished, far behind. Luckily we did well because I arrived at the right moment to head the Lord pass ”.

It meant the pass to the semifinals. Then Spain defeated Denmark on penalties in Lyon and back in Paris they lost the final against host France.

From Paris to Vienna. In Euro 88, Spain and Germany, as organizer, met again in the decisive match of the group stage. The Germans prevailed (2-0) and those of Muñoz were eliminated. New appointment in the World Cup in the United States and also in the group stage with a draw (1-1) and a goal from Goikoetxea that will never be known if the Navarrese crossed or finished, but the ball slipped through Illgner's squad. The next official commitment was in Euro 2008. Nothing less than in the final. Vienna The Prater. June 29.

A precedent on Fernando Torres' retina. A goal of his, very similar in execution and with Lehmann in the German goal, had given Spain the victory in the final of the European Under-19 disputed in Norway in 2002. Then the pass was from Iniesta. This time from Xavi. The two to the gap, both with a gallop of Fernando winning the German defender in the race.

At the time, he described the goal from the protagonist's perspective. “It was the day I had been waiting for a long time. That goal was a bit of a house brand. I have to confess that I believed that the ball did not go in, that it came out because of the effect it had, because of the “thread” that I put in, I saw it outside. Luckily he entered. The field was so wet that the ball skidded and didn't spin. An unforgettable goal. It was a bit of a goal made in Spain. Everything arose from a robbery, instead of clearing it, we took it out playing and Xavi gave me a sensational pass to free space. I ran, got there and touched it just enough so that Lehmann couldn't divert it. I took the joy of my life ”.

From Vienna to Durban. This time it took much less time. Two years. From a final to a semi-final. In between there had been no other confrontation. Germany clamored for revenge. Spain, with Del Bosque on the bench, confirmation of the victory of the Eurocup. Another lonely goal. Almost as important as Torres's. It did not give the title, but it did give the option to win it in the final. Never had the goal been counted with such accuracy and detail as Puyol did at AS on the 10th anniversary of the Johannesburg title.

“We rehearsed the corner action the day before when we were preparing for the game. I saw how Germany defended those plays and knew that we could hurt them if we made the screen with two players and Xavi put it as he knew how to put them. I proposed it in the talk. The coach told us ok and we did it. It was not me who had to finish the play, but Sergio Ramos, who is doing very well in the head, and those who had to make the screen were Gerard (Piqué) and me. At the end of the first half I told Xavi why we were shooting all the short corners. We are going to put them up and see how it will work. I told him you put it in the race and either I score a goal or a German enters the goal. Don't worry that something will happen. Luckily we made the goal. I was angry and then I told them that I would come in. We change positions. Who really believed in that play was me. The fact is that we believed that that was the formula to score a goal ”.

And it was. Iniesta, in the final, took care of the rest.