News: U21, Union Berlin, Michael Olise

3-0 against France! The German team is in the final of the U21 European Championship. And for very good reason. The 23 youngsters that coach Antonio di Salvo has assembled are a football team that Sepp Herberger must have envisioned. A team not riddled with sensitivities and egos. Where everyone is looking for the better-positioned teammate, delighting wickedly in the others' goals. Where incredibly likeable guys like Nick Woltemade run around, laid-back guys like Noah Atubolu and Nathaniel Brown, where Rocco Reitz pulls the strings and finally makes it clear why Gladbach once fell in love with the idea of ​​nurturing a few wild colts around him. The U21s are a structure in which even the players who aren't in the front row have internalized the team spirit. Like Nelson Weiper, Brajan Gruda, and Paul Wanner, who, by their own admission, always belong in the starting eleven, but also accept their benched fate without complaint and enter the game with full sail. This Saturday, therefore, sees a repeat of the 2009 U21 European Championship final. Back then, the opponents were England. The German team, featuring Neuer, Hummels, Khedira, and Özil, won 4-0. And it laid the foundation for the most successful era in German football.