Starting up front in Kai Havertz’s absence, Deniz Undav impressed in Germany’s 4-0 friendly win over Finland on Sunday night, scoring twice and providing an assist.
After the game, the Stuttgart forward drew praise from Julian Nagelsmann, who felt the 29-year-old was unlucky not to have found the net earlier in the match.
“Deniz was very dangerous, he was a bit unlucky with his first finish. He was involved in three goals and played a good game,” said Nagelsmann, according to Bundesliga.de.
Undav was forced off after picking up a knock while scoring his second goal, but both the striker himself and Nagelsmann played down the injury afterwards.
“I think everything is fine with Deniz. He had a very heavy workload in Stuttgart and has played a lot; he looked happy in the dressing room. He did very, very well again today,” Nagelsmann said.
Another standout performer was 18-year-old Bayern prodigy Lennart Karl, who impressed on the right wing on his first start for Germany.
“Karl had a lot of actions in the first half, he tried a lot and also had good moments again and again in the second half. He’s a player who will be very valuable for us,” said Nagelsmann.
Overall, the Germany coach was pleased with what he saw.
“The boys executed the game plan very well, we started very well, the first 15 minutes were very good. In the second half we also defended deeper at times, and then we also scored on the counterattack, which does us good. The result is good, we didn’t concede, so we can continue like this,” he said.