Kimmich defends Werner for missed shot, laughs off Scholl’s Thunberg comparison

Joshua Kimmich’s willingness to speak candidly to the press remains unbroken. After Bayern Munich’s tense 0-0 draw against title contender RB Leipzig, Kimmich defended his Germany teammate Timo Werner, who missed a crucial shot in the 63’ minute of the game. The defender said (Bild),

The chance was not as easy as it looks to the amateur fan. The ball was not played cleanly flat to him, and he actually had to take the shot immediately, because otherwise David Alaba or Manuel Neuer would have gotten there. It looks easier than it was.

You can see the ball skipping across the pitch in the clip below:

Werner himself was less forgiving and praised Manuel Neuer for closing down his shooting angle after Nkunku passed to him. He said,

I have to put that one away. Manuel does that well, comes out, but in such a game you have to put such balls away to win.

Julian Nagelsmann, like Kimmich, saw the difficulty above all in would-be assist:

The ball comes in really hard, Timo has to take the shot with risk. No criticism of him, he will score many more goals.

In the end, Kimmich said, “It annoys me that we didn’t win, But both teams can be content with a point.”

As for Mehmet Scholl’s Greta Thunberg comparison...

Bild also asked Kimmich what he thought about Mehmet Scholl’s criticism of his outspokenness despite his relative youth, calling him “the Greta Thunberg of German soccer.” According to Bild, Kimmich laughed off Scholl’s criticism. He said,

I won’t say anything about that. I heard about it. But it won’t change the way I approach things. I’ll definitely continue to state my opinion.

And so he did.