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After being heavily criticized for his photo taken with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mesut Özil announced on Sunday that he no longer wants to wear the German selection jersey.
His reaction was eagerly awaited after the elimination surprise Germany in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup, on June 27th. And it will be a stir, even beyond the German football sphere, since Mesut Özil announced this Sunday via a Twitter message no longer want to wear the jersey of the German national team again ". Consumed for taking a photo alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then in the midst of the election campaign on May 14, the now-former German international gathered a large part of German opinion around the critics. Hardly Germany was eliminated, the deputy of the extreme right-wing German party "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) Jens Maier had cracked a tweet wrongly: "Without Özil, we would have won". Tweet withdrawn since
But the member for Dresden was not the only one to speak against the midfielder of Arsenal. On Tuesday, June 19, the former German glory Lothar Matthäus fueled the controversy in the columns of Bild the largest German daily newspaper. "Özil did not understand why there is such controversy around him in Germany. He is not aware of what people expect from a national team player in Germany. He would have done well, after the error of the photos with Erdogan, to affirm his attachment to Germany ", explained the Golden Ball 1990.
Criticized even to the federation
But the coup de grace was assigned by Oliver Bierhoff, the manager of the Nationalmannschaft, in person. "We have never forced the players of the German national team to do anything, but we have always tried to convince them to do something," Bierhoff said in an interview for the big newspaper Die Welt on July 6, explaining that the Federation (DFB) had prompted the former Real to speak publicly, which he then did not. "We did not succeed with Mesut. And in this respect, it would have been necessary to think to do without him sportingly, "he continued, then publicly disavowing his player, as well as the coach Joachim Löw.
It was the drop of water that has overflowing the vase full of Mesut Özil, who did not skimp on explanations this Sunday. By publishing three long press releases on his Twitter profile, the native of Gelsenkirchen first spoke about his meeting with the Turkish president, saying that it was not a cliché to carry politics, but "a way to respect the highest office of my parents' country ". He then addressed his sponsors and the media, accusing them of "using the photo with President Erdogan as a right-wing propaganda for their own political cause."
A departure that should leave traces
Finally, in a third message published in the evening, Mesut Özil announced his decision to retire internationally. "The treatment I received from the DFB and many others does not make me want to wear the jersey of the German national team again," he said. "I always gave everything for my teammates, the staff and the good people in Germany? But when top officials at the German Rugby Federation (DFB) treat me like that, do not respect my Turkish roots and selfishly involve me in political propaganda, then that's enough. That's not why I play football, and I will not go back on that choice. Racism must not, should never be accepted, "he concluded.
The critics, he said guided by racism, will have finally won the 29-year-old midfielder, international 92 times and the author of 23 goals for Germany, with whom he was crowned world champion in 2014. The Nationalmannschaft loses a talent that, although it was not flawlessly sporting at the World Cup, embodied a golden generation that won the supreme title in 2014. A sad start, which should also leave traces in the German federation, described as "amateur" by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, no later than Friday.
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