21:23, 17 Nov 2025Updated 21:29, 17 Nov 2025<\/p>\n
![\"Florian](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Germany-v-Slovakia-FIFA-World-Cup-2026-Qualifier.jpg\")
Liverpool star Florian Wirtz notched two assists in five minutes to fire Germany to the World Cup.(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Liverpool star Florian Wirtz showed his class as he provided two assists for Germany in their World Cup qualification showdown with Slovakia. Julian Nagelsmann’s side needed a point against the FIFA-ranked 46th side in order to book their place in next summer’s tournament.<\/p>\n
The pressure has been building on Wirtz<\/a>, Nagelsmann, and co as they laboured to a win over Luxembourg<\/a>, where they needed two goals from Nick Woltemade to guarantee a top-two finish. Scrutiny has followed the former Bayer Leverkusen main man after making the move across from the Bundesliga to the Premier League<\/a>.<\/p>\n So far, Wirtz has failed to pull up any trees for the Reds<\/a> after his \u00a3116million move, leading to criticism that intensified after Liverpool were comfortably dispatched by Manchester City, on the eve of the international break.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Hugo Ekitke rushes to support as Liverpool teammate issues apology<\/a>READ MORE: Liverpool learn Antoine Semenyo release clause as Arne Slot handed transfer deadline<\/a><\/p>\n But he made great strides towards silencing the doubters with an impressive display for Germany in their World Cup qualification curtain-closer.<\/p>\n Wirtz twice provided for Leroy Sane for his two first-half goals as they breezed into a 4-0 lead at the break. It was two assists in quick succession for the 22-year-old as he first lifted a superb ball over the top for the former Man City winger.<\/p>\n He then showed immense vision to drift a ball towards the back-post for Sane to run onto and fire into the roof of the net on the stroke of half-time. He was subbed after 77 minutes with his side in full control.<\/p>\n It comes after Neville labelled the playmaker as a “problem” following his display at the Etihad Stadium. The former Manchester United defender said on his podcast: “Wirtz is a problem, let’s be clear. Let’s call it as it is. It’s an issue. To be fair, I said a few weeks ago about [Milos] Kerkez that he looks like a little boy out there.<\/p>\n “Wirtz looked like a little boy and that can’t be the case. He’s a German international of great standing and he looks well short in respect of what you\u2019d expect in a top physical match.”<\/p>\n But the Germany head coach rushed to the defence of the national starlet as he highlighted the challenges facing Wirtz both on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n “To be honest, the overall situation doesn’t make it easy for Flo either,” Nagelsmann said.<\/p>\n “The whole club isn’t as stable this year as it was last year. It’s much harder to slip into the team now.<\/p>\n “If you look at the game against [Manchester] City, they were actually the worse team over the 90 minutes.<\/p>\n “So it’s also difficult for Flo to make a big impact. Ultimately, the overall situation is such that he just needs a little more time, which is normal; you see that with other players who move to the Premier League too.”<\/p>\n He added: “We all know what he’s capable of, and it’s perfectly normal for a player of his age to go through a bit of a dip in form.<\/p>\n “We can’t expect him to perform at the same level for three years straight.<\/p>\n “Instead, we all need to support him a little bit so that he can clear his head here, and then maybe Liverpool could also help him out by scoring some of the chances he creates.<\/p>\n “That would be one idea, because he does not create few chances, it’s just that… they somehow don’t like to shoot the ball in, that’s also part of the truth.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florian Wirtz sent a timely reminder to his Liverpool critics after two assists in quick succession for Germany…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[18,42799,19,17,560,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-186662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-florian-wirtz","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-liverpool-fc","13":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115569403152022005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}