He is often tackled hard. When Kiel took a 2-0 lead, Florian Wirtz was lucky not to suffer a serious injury after a foul on him. Teammate Robert Andrich explains that the top star himself can also help to prevent the frequency of such scenes.
It was a moment of shock that could have had far-reaching consequences. In the 12th minute, Magnus Kundsen kicked Florian Wirtz in the Achilles tendon area with his cleats in a fierce tackle near the sideline. The Leverkusen star was lucky that Kiel’s midfielder only kicked the top player in the area right next to the tendon. Wirtz, who was able to continue playing, was spared a serious injury.
Rolfes assessed the foul pleasantly calmly
Even though Kiel tried to counter with maximum effort in this phase of the game and often pushed the boundaries, managing director Simon Rolfes called the scene pleasantly calmly. “He goes in from above at the back of the Achilles tendon. This is definitely a foul that is borderline, that is dangerous. There was a phase when Kiel went into duels in such a way that they sometimes took things like that into account,” the former professional said on Sky, but also put it into perspective: ”That was less the case in this situation. Fortunately, the referee handled it well after that and then it was a fair game.”
One thing is clear: Wirtz, a super technician and exceptional dribbler, basically runs the risk of becoming a victim of opposing attacks with his style of play. A risk that the national player himself increases again, as teammate Robert Andrich explains. The defensive midfielder, who basically does not advocate for the referees to be too strict, said on the one hand: “You know that Flo is brutally good one-on-one and also one-on-two or one-on-three, and that the opponents often only know how to help themselves with a foul. But when it gets unfair and you really go for the body, you have to protect him as a referee.”
So far, Wirtz has been walking a fine line
On the other hand, the 30-year-old also points out Wirtz’s special character and temperament: “He likes to play with fire because he knows he’s really good,” said Andrich about Wirtz’s attitude of not putting up with anything and instead reacting to his opponents’ provocation with football skills, tricking them with his tricks and feints.
A fine line, but one that Wirtz has walked confidently so far. “As long as it’s always for the team, he’s welcome to do the things he does, and it all works,” says Andrich. “When it comes to the unfair stuff, there are enough players on the pitch who can say something to the opponent or the referee.” That is, if it’s not already too late.
Even though Wirtz’s dribbling, which is obviously sometimes intended to provoke his opponents, should not be used as an excuse to foul him harder, Andrich is already the second Bayer professional to address this peculiarity of the 21-year-old. Defensive linchpin Jonathan Tah had already commented after the 2-0 win at FC Augsburg in December: “Sometimes he gets a bit stubborn when the opponent gets on his nerves. And then he really wants to show the opponent: You can try to kick me, but you still can’t do anything against me. Maybe he can stop doing that soon.”
