Youssoufa Moukoko scored a brace in the German U21 national team’s win in Kosovo. He received praise from the coach.

DFB coach Antonio Di Salvo has heaped praise on goal-scorer Youssoufa Moukoko after his brace for the Germany U21s. “He is greedy to score goals. He doesn’t need many chances when he has the ball at his feet. He is a very important player for us,” Di Salvo said after the 3-0 (0-0) win in Kosovo to start the European Championship qualifying campaign.

Moukoko, who is only 18 years old, is currently playing his third cycle in the U21s. He now has eight goals in eight appearances for the DFB team. In the win against Kosovo in Pristina, the striker put the German team ahead after a goalless 73 minutes. Shortly afterwards, Moukoko scored the 2:0 (78.). The final goal was scored by former Dortmund talent Colin Kleine-Bekel shortly before the final whistle (89th).

“He has a lot of experience – not only with the U21s, but also at the very highest level with BVB. It is important that he can regain his self-confidence with us in order to take off again at the club. That’s what I told him,” Di Salvo said about Moukoko. The young attacker has received a renowned rival at BVB in Niclas Füllkrug, but a transfer did not materialise despite enquiries.

The U21 European Championship in the summer did not go according to plan for Moukoko, as it did for the entire German team. In the opening match against Israel (1:1) he missed a penalty kick and was subsequently ruled out with an injury. “Unfortunately, the European Championship did not go as we had hoped for him and for us. But that’s all water under the bridge,” said Di Salvo.

Meanwhile, Di Salvo gave a cautious all-clear for 1 FC Cologne’s Eric Martel, who had to be substituted at the break with an injury. “He felt his Achilles tendon a little bit at half-time. We will still take good care of him, in Cologne it will then be checked. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he can be available again at the weekend,” said the DFB coach. (with RS)