Florian Wirtz opened the scoring as Germany took on Portugal in the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League, but it was Diogo Jota who celebrated victory.
Wirtz made his first appearance since the news emerged that he had chosen Liverpool over Bayern Munich, starting as Germany hosted Portugal on Wednesday night.
He did so as one of two No. 10s in Julian Nagelsmann’s 3-4-2-1 setup, taking up the left-sided role while Leroy Sane was stationed to the right.
It had been noted beforehand that Wirtz is still working his way back to full sharpness after injury, but the 22-year-old still managed to make his mark on the Nations League semi-final.
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Early into the second half he drifted in from the left flank before playing a pass to Joshua Kimmich on the edge of the box, then making a run into the area and heading in the right-back’s chipped return ball.
It was his seventh goal for Germany and only the second header he has scored throughout his senior career so far.
Unfortunately it came in defeat at Bayern’s Allianz Arena, with Francisco Conceicao and Cristiano Ronaldo scoring in the space of six second-half minutes to ensure a 2-1 win for Portugal.
Jota came off the bench with seven minutes left to play as Roberto Martinez continues to favour the 40-year-old Ronaldo up front.
The result means Portugal advance to the final of the Nations League which will see them face the winners of Spain vs. France – contested on Thursday night – in Munich.
Germany are not out of the tournament completely as they will take on the losers of the other semi-final in a third-placed playoff, also on Sunday.
Even in defeat, Wirtz was the standout performer in Wednesday’s semi-final, earning a FotMob rating of 8.1, having scored, completed the most dribbles (three), won the most duels (nine) and made the most tackles (three) on the night.
He was far more involved than his fellow No. 10, Sane, with 61 touches of the ball compared to the Bayern attacker’s 29.
GGFN rated Wirtz a team-high seven out of 10, writing: “It is safe to say that Wirtz is the man of the moment in German football right now, and he proved it tonight.”
However, BILD gave a very different opinion, with Wirtz only rated a three out of 10 – the second-lowest of any player – having been “barely visible in the first half.”
Jota touched the ball five times in his brief cameo, completing his only attempted pass, but also fired two shots on goal and came away with the second-highest xG behind Ronaldo at 0.63.
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