“He could kick the ball out of the stadium”: Jürgen Klopp responds to Serbia’s goalkeeper choice with a DFB line-up

Germany coach Jürgen Klopp has said Serbia's starting line-up influenced his selection for the away Nations League match.

In Belgrade, Klopp sprang a surprise by starting Jonathan Tah and Malick Thiaw in central defence, rather than Borussia Dortmund's Nico Schlotterbeck, the left-footer who had also been a regular in the back four under Klopp's predecessor Julian Nagelsmann. "We're expecting very long balls," Klopp told RTL.

He added: "Now they're also starting Milinkovic-Savic, the goalkeeper, who could kick the ball right out of the stadium here." Serbia coach Veljko Paunovic had opted for the Napoli goalkeeper over Bournemouth's Djordje Petrovic. Milinkovic-Savic's shooting power drew attention in December 2025, when he took a penalty himself in the shootout against Cagliari in the Coppa Italia round of 16 and struck it into the net at 130 km/h.

"The slight advantage Tah and Thiaw have is in contesting the first ball," said Klopp, who expected plenty of long balls from Serbia's defence or goalkeeper on Friday. That prompted him to leave Schlotterbeck out of his starting line-up. "It was a close decision," Klopp said.

Schlotterbeck has made 30 international appearances for Germany so far, scoring one goal. At the World Cup last summer, he suffered a medial ligament tear in his ankle in the second group match against Ivory Coast. He most recently missed the Nations League matches against Serbia and Greece because of another ankle injury.