Joshua Kimmich has established a reputation as a ‘mentality monster’ for Bayern Munich and the German national team. He has admitted to crying after every loss as a youth player and often carries those same emotions into professional matches. Tonight, he led Germany to a gritty 1-1 draw against the Netherlands in debut managerial appearances for Jürgen Klopp and Xavi Hernández. The Dutch scored in the final minute but were the better team for most of the night.
In the postgame interview (via @iMiaSanMia), the German captain offered an optimistic review of Germany’s result.
“It was an intense football match in which not everything was perfect, but in which a lot of things felt quite good,” said Kimmich. “We scored and then had a huge chance with Karim to make it 2-0. In the second half, you could definitely feel that the Dutch were getting better. We had a couple counter-attacks that we didn’t execute well enough. All in all, it was a deserved draw.”
It is a rare moment for Kimmich to concede that a draw was a fair result, especially after a heated conversation with some of the Dutch players after the final whistle. At the end of the day, the German captain respected the opponent’s performance as much as his own.
