“He made sure we all got a breather and gave the team some good stability. I already saw in training that he is back to his old self like he was two years ago before his injury. He has this dynamic appearance again, this movement. When he is in this form he is very difficult to replace.”

 “He” is Ilkay Gündogan and this comment was made by national Head Coach Joachim Löw between the two EURO qualifiers on Friday against Poland (3-1) and on Monday against Scotland.

Borussia Dortmund’s midfield strategist has not just been playing very well for his club in the last few weeks, he has also been doing a great job for the national team. Kicker wrote: “the Dortmund player was brought on shortly after half-time – but still he played a dominant and crucial role. As a Nr 10 Gündogan got right into the game, he immediately showed more presence and dynamism than Özil did before him, who only got better when he switched to the left hand side. Gündogan caused the Polish defence lots of problems again and again by alternating great passes with strong solo runs that were very difficult to stop. He showed everything an offensive midfield player needs to bring to the pitch apart from when it came to scoring a goal. The 24 year old, who has found back to his best form under BVB Head Coach Thomas Tuchel, made it absolutely clear that he will have a big say when it comes to who plays in the centre of midfield for the national side.” (br)