German media have widely covered Greece’s victory over Germany, which spoiled Jürgen Klopp’s highly anticipated home debut as Germany’s national team coach.
Bild led its digital coverage for several hours with the headline, “Jürgen Klopp fails in his home debut – Football dwarf puts the brakes on Jürgen Klopp.”
The newspaper noted that Klopp had warned against underestimating the “dwarfs” of football, referring to Greece’s 41st position in the international rankings. Klopp had described the Greek squad as the “golden generation of Greek football”.
Bild also recalled that Greece had failed to qualify for the last three World Cups and European Championships, but had recently attracted international attention with a late victory over Serbia. The newspaper noted that the match marked Greece’s first-ever football victory over Germany.
Private news network n-tv ran the headline, “Greece spoils Jürgen Klopp’s home debut”, describing the defeat as “the worst start for a national team coach in the history of German football” and Klopp’s “first disappointment” as the team’s new coach.
The report described Greece as an opponent with “deep and highly disciplined weapons” that capitalised on a mistake by Klopp’s team.
“That was bad luck. Germany, playing in front of 28,945 spectators, also had chances to avoid their first defeat against Greece. But overall, their attacking play was extremely sluggish,” n-tv wrote.
Germany’s public broadcaster ARD, through its Sportschau programme, said the “miracle cure” had been postponed after Greece punished a German mistake.
Former Germany midfielder and current ARD commentator Bastian Schweinsteiger offered a blunt assessment of the national team’s current standing.
“We are no longer a top team; we have settled into mediocrity,” Schweinsteiger said.
Der Spiegel ran the headline, “A brake on Klopp euphoria”, while also highlighting the atmosphere inside Augsburg’s stadium.
Although fewer Greek supporters attended the match, the magazine noted that they “could be heard more often and more loudly”, particularly when booing Germany and celebrating Greek spells of possession.
The stadium operators also rewarded the Greek supporters by playing the well-known German song Griechischer Wein(Greek Wine).
“Greece stops Klopp,” Süddeutsche Zeitung declared, arguing that Klopp’s “organised chaos” turned into “pure chaos” during the match.
The newspaper also singled out Joshua Kimmich, writing that he “looks like a captain without a team”.
Sports magazine Kicker described Klopp’s home debut as a failure.
“The German team had no ideas in attack, while for Greece, apart from the goalscorer of the winning goal, a Borussia Dortmund player — referring to Konstantinos Karetsas — particularly impressed,” Kicker wrote.
