Jurgen Klopp remains without a win in his opening Nations League fixtures as Germany host a Serbia side at the Allianz Arena on Thursday, with both nations in urgent need of a positive result in Group A2.
Match Preview
Klopp’s start in the Germany dugout has been anything but smooth. A 1-1 draw with the Netherlands on matchday one was followed by a narrow defeat to Greece, leaving Germany with just a single point from two matches and sitting third in the group.
Klopp opted to name two entirely separate squads across Germany’s four-match international window, and Thursday’s game, the first for his second batch of players, represents a big early opportunity for a fresh group to getthe campaign back on track in front of a home crowd. Serbia’s situation is considerably more alarming.
Velijko Paunovic’s side have lost four matches in a row for the first time in over two decades, sitting bottom of the group without a point after back-to-back 2-1 defeats to Greece and the Netherlands.
It marks Paunovic’s sixth defeat in his last eight matches in charge, and while his job is understood to be safe for now given his prior connection to Serbian football at youth level, results need to improve fast to avoid a losing run that starts to threaten Serbia’s place in League A altogether.
Team News
Germany have no fresh injury concerns to contend with, given Klopp’s decision to field a completely different group of players for the second half of this international window.
Arsenal striker Kai Havertz, who withdrew from the first two matches with an injury picked up in the Nations League opener, was not part of this squad regardless. Key figures from the previous fixtures, including Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Jonathan Tah and captain Joshua Kimmich, have returned to their clubs, with Jonas Urbig, David Raum and Aleksandar Pavlovic among those expected to start in their place as Klopp turns to largely different personnel for a third straight match.
Serbia have been hit hard by absences up front. Aleksandar Mitrovic remains sidelined through injury, leaving Luka Jovic and Dejan Joveljic as Paunovic’s primary attacking options, while Dusan Vlahovic and Nikola Milenkovic are also unavailable.
Strahinja Pavlovic is expected to be fit after being forced off during the defeat to the Netherlands, having shaken off the knock that curtailed his involvement in that game. Joveljic started up front against the Dutch, but Jovic, who scored off the bench in that same match, could be handed a recall to the starting XI.
Germany vs Serbia Predicted XI
Germany Predicted XI:
Urbig; Baku, Anton, Thiaw, Raum; Janelt, Pavlovic; Adeyemi, Bischof, Wirtz; Burkardt
Serbia Predicted XI:
Milinkovic-Savic; Terzic, S. Pavlovic, Babic, Nadeljkovic; Lukic, Gudelj; S. Milinkovic-Savic, Stankovic, Zivkovic; Jovic
Score Prediction
Germany 2-0 Serbia
