Leon Goretzka on heroic return to German national team: “I’d rather look forward than back.”

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·21 March 2025

Leon Goretzka on heroic return to German national team: “I’d rather look forward than back.”

FC Bayern Munich and German national team midfielder Leon Goretzka kept a sly grin on his face during his post-match interview Thursday night. The 30-year-old’s spectacular comeback story for both club and country continues. In his first cap for the national team in 16 months, Goretzka scored his 15th career goal for Germany. As it so happened, Goretzka’s 76th-minute 1-2 proved the match-winner in Thursday’s Nations League win over Italy.

Goretzka immediately returned to the starting XI. Speaking to German public broadcaster das Erste after the full-time whistle, Goretzka first explained what it felt like to line up alongside his fellow starters and hear the German national anthem. He then skillfully evaded a question about how the form crisis that saw him fall out of favor for both Bayern and Germany felt like.

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“I’ll admit that hearing my national anthem touched me more than I thought it would,” Goretzka noted. “[regarding my long absence] much has been reported on it. I’ve deliberately said little about it and won’t say much now. Of course, it was hard. I’d still rather look forward than backward.“

Goretzka’s played an overall splendid match. Goretzka’s interviewer probed him about his match plan. This was perhaps in an overt attempt to see if he would reveal (as was the case in a recent league fixture against Stuttgart) that there was a secret to his success. The man-of-the-hour maintained his cautious demeanor.

“One trusts oneself to deliver such scenes ahead of time,” Goretzka said plainly. “We played a decent first half and were better in the second. I’m glad I could interject a bit of pace into this game and add a coda near the end.”

GGFN | Peter Weis