Germany’s Nagelsmann backs Wirtz to ‘create lovely moments’ at Liverpool

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann on Sunday backed under-fire Liverpool midfielder Florian Wirtz to shine in the Premier League.

Speaking in Belfast ahead of Germany’s 2026 World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland on Monday, Nagelsmann said Wirtz’s teething problems were “normal”. 

“I have no concerns. He’ll adapt very quickly and score goals for Liverpool,” the 38-year-old added.

“He’ll create a lot of lovely moments at Anfield.”

Wirtz has no goals and no assists in nine Premier League and Champions League matches since joining Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer for a fee of £100 million (115 million euros).

Nagelsmann said he hoped Wirtz would “score tomorrow” in Belfast to start his revival, adding “it’d be good for him and for us”.

The Germans stumbled out of the box in their World Cup qualifying campaign with a shock 2-0 loss away to Slovakia and rebounded with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Northern Ireland in Cologne. 

Germany looked strong in Friday’s controlled 4-0 win over Luxembourg but benefited from playing against 10 men for much of the match.

“We lost a game and in World Cup qualifications you don’t get that many,” Nagelsmann said. 

“We’ll try and get the three points. We won’t make it to the World Cup tomorrow but we can put ourselves in a good situation. 

“We have to take it step by step.”

Germany and Northern Ireland sit alongside Slovakia atop the Group A standings. 

Each side has six points from two victories, while Luxembourg sit dead last in the four-team group having lost three from three. 

Northern Ireland, who last qualified for a World Cup in 1986, will be without captain Conor Bradley. The Liverpool defender is suspended for Monday’s match.

Buoyed by Friday’s surprise 2-0 win over Slovakia, Northern Ireland backed themselves to continue improving on Monday against the four-time World Cup winners. 

“You could say it was one of our best performances, but I think we can do even better,” coach Michael O’Neill told reporters on Sunday. 

“We’ve got the opportunity now to do what Slovakia did — and we have to aspire to do that.”